Type parameter defaults can only use parameters that occur before them. Erroneous code example:

struct Foo<T = U, U = ()> {
    field1: T,
    field2: U,
}
// error: type parameters with a default cannot use forward declared
// identifiers

Since type parameters are evaluated in-order, you may be able to fix this issue by doing:

struct Foo<U = (), T = U> {
    field1: T,
    field2: U,
}

Please also verify that this wasn't because of a name-clash and rename the type parameter if so.