Pappas Enterprises, Inc. v. Commerce & Industry Insurance

The plaintiffs, whom we shall refer to collectively as the insured, are beneficiaries of an insurance policy issued by the defendant insurer that provided coverage against fire loss to numerous properties in the Boston area. The policy, which became effective on September 1, 1990, was a renewal of property damage policies that had been issued on September 1, 1988, and September 1, 1989. On October 27, 1990, fifty-seven days after the effective date of the policy then in effect, one of the covered properties was damaged by fire. That property had been vacant since May, 1989, a period of well…