Sasser

BACKGROUND

The Facts Beginning in about 1992 Sasser and his wife (since deceased) owned the house at 7921 Holly Street in Oakland, and regularly rented it out to tenants. Apparently in May 2005, Sasser evicted his final tenants for nonpayment of rent. When they departed, they took all the furnishings, leaving the house substantially empty save for several pieces of allegedly ―junk‖ furniture. Sasser was unsuccessful in his efforts to rent the property, and it remained vacant. Sasser had a chain-link fence erected around the property ―to keep vandals out,‖ to no avail: in the two years between the departure of the last tenant and the 2007 fire, Sasser learned that the property had been entered at least twice without his permission. During this period of time, more specifically, beginning in March 2004, Sasser contracted with Allstate to insure the Holly Street property under a ―Landlords Package Policy,‖ which policy was in effect at the time of the fire. Policy form AP529 specified the policy‘s coverage provisions and exclusions, and provided ―Dwelling Protection‖ coverage. One provision of that form, entitled ―Losses We Cover Under Coverages A and B,‖ stated as follows: ―We will…