Bryer v. Erie Railroad

The defendant’s first affirmative defense pleaded that the accident alleged in the complaint and the nature of plaintiff’s employment bring him under the Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (U. S. Code, tit. 33, § 901 et seq.), and that said act provides the exclusive remedy for the plaintiff. At the end of the entire case and after motions to dismiss and for a directed verdict had been denied, the court on its own motion struck out the defendant’s first affirmative defense, as aforesaid, and ruled as a matter of law, taking the question away from the jury, that the plaintiff…