After a fire broke out at an Oklahoma motel in June 2020, the property owner submitted a loss claim to its surplus lines insurer—only to find the insurer denied the claim on the assertion that a commercial lines policy insuring the motel expired weeks before the fire.
The policy lapse was news to motel owner Jai Hospitality. The company said it hadn’t received by mail any direct notice that its policy was set to expire on the first of the month. Unbeknownst to Jai at the time of the fire, Western World Insurance Company had