Gardner v. Old Dominion Stevedoring Corp.

In this personal injury action, which was tried to a jury, the trial court, on motion by defendant, struck plaintiffs evidence on the ground that the evidence showed plaintiff to be contributorily negligent as a matter of law. On this appeal, appellant first contends that the case should have been tried under maritime law and that a comparative negligence test should have been applied. Appellant further contends that, even if maritime law does not apply, the question of his contributory negligence should have been submitted to the jury.

Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to…