The Tungus et al. v. Skovgaard, Administratrix, et al., 1958 case revolved around the issue of whether federal maritime law or state wrongful death statutes should apply in a situation where a non-seaman was killed on navigable waters within a state's boundaries due to negligence. The victim was an employee of an independent contractor performing maintenance work aboard the ship "Tungus" when he fell into oil-contaminated water and died from resulting burns and infection. His widow sued for damages under New Jersey’s wrongful death statute which allows recovery only if decedent could have maintained action had death not ensued. In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that since the accident occurred within territorial waters of New Jersey, it is subject to its laws including those governing wrongful deaths; hence federal maritime law did not preempt application of state law in such cases. The court held that there wasn't any conflict between federal interests and enforcement of state policy as long as it doesn’t disturb uniformity in seamen’s remedies for personal injuries or deaths caused by unseaworthiness.

In the dissenting opinion for The Tungus et al. v. Skovgaard, Justice Brennan disagreed with the majority's interpretation of maritime law and its application to this case. He argued that under federal maritime law, a shipowner owes a duty of seaworthiness to longshoremen working on their vessel regardless of whether they are employed by an independent contractor or not. In his view, the majority had wrongly applied New Jersey state law instead of federal maritime law in determining liability for unseaworthy conditions leading to injury or death aboard a ship docked in navigable waters within a state’s boundaries. Brennan contended that such an approach undermined uniformity in admiralty laws across states and could lead to unjust outcomes depending on where incidents occurred.