Kersten v. Detroit Automobile

James Kersten and Beverly Kersten brought an action for a declaratory judgment of liability under a policy of insurance against
the Detroit Automobile Inter-Insurance Exchange, the Secretary of State, and others, in Kalamazoo County Circuit Court, Robert
L. Borsos, J., as a result of an accident which occurred when a vehicle driven by Beverly Kersten struck a tire and rim in
the passing lane of the public highway on which she was driving. Plaintiffs were granted a declaratory judgment of liability.
The court found that the tire and rim assembly was a spare tire from an unidentified motor vehicle and that physical contact
with the tire and rim was sufficient contact with the negligent vehicle under Michigan's then hit-and-run statute to provide
collision insurance coverage under plaintiffs' insurance policy with the defendant Insurance Exchange. Defendant Detroit Automobile
Inter-Insurance Exchange appeals. Held : Plaintiffs' recovery was dependent upon physical contact by the hit-and-run vehicle and plaintiffs' vehicle under the policy
of insurance and the then existing statute. A collision with a tire and rim on a highway is not physical contact with a vehicle
because a tire and rim are not an automobile.