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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1970i vehicle driven by Richard English, the English car turned around and began chasing the Shaffer car. The deEendant Paul Gong, a passenger in the Enqlish car, pulled out a gun and fired a shot. In an attempt to get away, the driver of the Shaffer vehicle turned into a street and tried to turn around. In so doing he drove the car off the roadway and became stuck. At this point the defendant Long fired three shots out of the window of the English car, the third one striking and injuring the plaintiff Shaffer. Shaffer sued Long and Farm Bureau. Long owned an automobile insured by a policy with Farm Bureau which afforded ~liability coverage to Long for bodily injury sustained as a result of the "use of any auto." Farm eureau con- tends that the injury sustained by'Shaffer did not result from the use of the automobile in which Long was a passenger. The mere fact that a vehicle is the site of an injury or incident is insufficient to create a causal connection between the use of the vehicle and the injury so as to bring the injury within the policy coverage. Stonewall Insurance Company v. Wolfe, 372 So.2d 1147 (Fla. 4th DCA 1979); Hutchins v. Mills, 363 So.2d 818 (Fla. lst DCA 1978); Feltner v. Hartford Accident and Indemnit~r Company, 336 So.2d 142 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976); Watson v. Watson, 326 So.2d 48 (Fla.:2d DCA 1976). In General Accident Fire and Life Assurance Cor~oration, Ltd, v. Appleton, 355 So.2d 1261 (Fla. 4th DCA 1978), the insured, a female hitchhiker, was attacked and robbed by three men while she was riding in the automobile which picked her up. This court held that there was an insufficient causal connection between the use of the vehicle and the bodily injury sustained by the insured to allow recovery~under her uninsured motorist policy. We held ' f that the use of ttie automobile was simply incidental to the resulting injury and that the automobile served as no more than the physica-1 situs of the attack. In so holding an attempt was made to define the type of causal relati~nship required in order to sustain coverage: - -2- ~ s~~K347 PAGF19s4 - - - K ... ... y . '~.~...~ ~~~x~,. .. :'~ ~ ~~5~ k,~.5+v. `'r3. -.c._. - ~~ ~~~_