In the case of Luckenbach Steamship Co., Inc. v. United States et al., 1959, the Supreme Court was asked to determine whether a ship owner could be held liable for damages caused by an explosion on its vessel while it was being loaded with government-owned ammunition in New York Harbor. The explosion resulted in significant damage and loss of life among longshoremen working on adjacent vessels and docks. The court ruled that under maritime law, a shipowner is not responsible for injuries sustained by third parties as a result of an inherently dangerous cargo unless they had actual knowledge or should have known about the danger but failed to warn those who were injured. In this case, there was no evidence that Luckenbach knew or should have known about any specific risk associated with loading munitions onto their vessel beyond what would be generally understood within shipping industry standards at that time.

In the dissenting opinion for Luckenbach Steamship Co., Inc. v. United States, Justice Brennan disagreed with the majority's interpretation of Section 2 of the Suits in Admiralty Act (SAA). He argued that this section should not be read to bar a shipowner from recovering half damages under a mutual-fault collision statute when both vessels involved are publicly owned and one is at fault. Instead, he contended that Congress intended to treat public and private ships equally under maritime law through the SAA, including allowing recovery of half damages in cases where both vessels were mutually at fault. Furthermore, he believed that interpreting Section 2 as barring such recovery would create an unjust result by absolving negligent public vessel operators from liability while holding private ones accountable for their negligence.