Walter Myers v. Merrimack Mutual Fire Insurance Company, an Insurance Company Doing Business in Illinois

CUMMINGS, Chief Judge.

This appeal comes to us from the district court’s grant of summary judgment, 601 F.Supp. 620, in favor of the defendant Merrimack Mutual Fire Insurance Company. This diversity case raises the issue of the proper construction of certain terms in an insurance contract. For the reasons set out below, we affirm the judgment of the district court.

I

In 1977, plaintiff Walter Myers purchased a fully occupied ten-unit apartment building in Lacón, Illinois. Subsequently he began to convert the units from oil to electric heat and charge the tenants for the fuel. As a result, the…