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Show - THE READER'S COURTROOM , Passenger Resents Fare Play By Will Bernard, LL.B. 1 If the Railroad Agent Sells You The Wrong Ticket, May the ,! Conductor Put You off the Train? A (! A railroad traveller paid for his i'i passage to a distant city, but the clerk of the depot accidentally gave j him a ticket good only to a nearby I town. When the train came to this Jtown, the conductor Insisted that j the passenger either get off or pay j more fare. The man flatly refused, j At last, the irate conductor dragged him bodily out of bis seat and May an Accident "Victim" Collect Damages if Not Hurt But Just Scared? A widow lived alone near a railroad rail-road track. One morning while she was sitting peacefully on her back porch, two freight trains collided and one of the cars toppled over into her back yard. Although not physically injured in any way, the woman sued the railroad for giving her such a scare. However, the court denied her claim. How Rough May a Policeman Be in Arresting a Drunkard? A policeman was summoned into a cafe to arrest a drunken patron. The officer told the man to "come along," but the drunk just sat there motionless. Angered, the policeman snapped a handcuff on the man's left wrist and then ordered or-dered him to lift his right. When the drunk stubbornly refused to comply, the officer slapped him three times on the face with his billy then led him away to jail. pushed him off the car. Afterward the man sued the railroad for damages. He maintained the conductor con-ductor should have taken his word for the fact that he had already paid his full fare. However, the court disagreed, ruling that the man should have paid the difference differ-ence then and settled the matter later with the depot clerk. Not all courts take this viewpoint. "Is a Wedding Valid if the Bride Just Nods Her Head Instead of Saying "I Do?" On the complaint of her husband, a woman was charged with adultry. At the trial, she claimed that she could not be guilty of that charge because she was really not married at all! Blandly she explained that, t her wedding ceremony, she had hot said "I do" but had merely nodded her head. The court decided de-cided the wedding was valid. As soon as he was released, the man sued the officer for using unnecessary un-necessary roughness. The officer insisted that he had a right to "get tough" in such cases, but the court decided that he had gone much too far. Denouncing his action as "a vicious exercise of brutality," the judge ordered him to pay damages to his victim. The judge pointed out that citizens are not required to "jump at the snap of a policeman's police-man's finger." |