How far a passenger may stick his arm out of a car window and be sure of an action for damages against a railroad company, If the member is broken or cut off, is something which interests every traveler. A judge recently decided as follows in a case involving this question:
First. If the jury shall find that the plaintiff was injured by being struck on his arm by a pillar of said bridge when his arm was resting on the sill of the window of the car, and was not outside the line of said car, then the jury shall find their verdict for the plaintiff for such damages as they will find he has sustained from said injury.
Second. But if the jury shall find that when the plaintiff's arm was struck by the bridge if it was outside the line of the car, and would not and could not have been struck if it had not been so outside then the plaintiff cannot receive damages, unless the injury shall find that his arm was thrown out of said car window by a sudden lurch or the swinging of said car caused by the rapid speed at which the train was run, or if the jury shall further find that said speed was dangerous at this point of defendant's road.
Third. That if the jury finds for the plaintiff, then in estimating the rule
of damages they are to consider his health and condition before the injuries
complained of as compared with his present condition, in consequence of the
said injuries, and whether they are in their nature permanent, and how far they
are calculated to disable him from engaging in those business pursuits for which,
in absence of such injuries, he would have been qualified, and also the physical
and mental suffering to which he had been subjected by reason of the said injuries,
and to allow such damage as in the opinion of the jury will be a fair compensation
for the injuries he has suffered.