The New England Legal Foundation (NELF) recently filed an amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief in support of Commerce Insurance Company in an underlying coverage dispute. NELF is a nonprofit, public interest firm focused on "the enforcement of commercial contracts according to their terms, in order to protect a business party's legitimate expectations with respect to its potential exposure to liability." 

An "amicus brief," as it is often called, is a brief written by one or more legal professionals who are not directly involved in a case but who nonetheless want to persuade the court to rule in favor of one of the parties. The facts below are taken from the Addendum to Commerce's appellate brief to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. 

The Underlying Dispute