Gardner v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co

In Gardner v. Aetna Cas. & Sur. Co., 114 Ariz. 123, 124, 559 P.2d 679, 680 (App. 1976), plaintiffs were injured when they collided with a bale of wire that had fallen from an unidentified flat bed truck. 114 Ariz. at 123, 559 P.2d at 679. They made an uninsured motorist claim. In affirming the summary judgment entered in favor of the insurer we noted that plaintiff's policy required that there be physical contact between the vehicle that caused the accident and the insured's vehicle. Id. at 124, 559 P.2d at 680. Contact between the bale of wire that fell from the unidentified vehicle and plaintiff's vehicle was insufficient to satisfy the physical contact requirement because it was indirect contact. Id. The Court held that indirect contact is insufficient to establish "physical contact" where it did not "at least originate in vehicular collision." Id.