Nationwide Insurance Co. v. Elchehimi

An axle-and-wheel assembly detached from an unidentified tractor-trailer and, propelled by the vehicle’s momentum, flew across the highway median, striking Moha-mad Elchehimi’s car and injuring its occupants. The Court concludes there was no actual physical contact between the two vehicles as the uninsured-motorist statute requires, and thus Elehehimi was not cov- • ered under his standard automobile insurance policy. The Court purports to rely upon the statute’s plain language, but nothing in that language compels the Court’s holding, and the statute’s remedial purpose clearly belies it. In…