Liberty Mutual Insurance

Early history

Liberty Mutual was founded in 1912 as the Massachusetts Employees Insurance Association (MEIA), following the passage of a 1911 Massachusetts law requiring employers to protect their employees with workers compensation insurance. The company was founded as a mutual company, a structure in which an insurance company is owned by its policyholders. The first branch office was opened in 1914, and later that year, the company wrote its first automobile insurance policy. The name was changed in 1917 to the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and, through partnerships, the company began offering full-coverage auto policies.

Structural changes

In 1964, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company began offering life insurance through its Liberty Life Assurance Branch. In 2002, the company converted into its current mutual holding company structure, which would allow it to offer company's shares while remaining a mutual company. The conversion was controversial, as some policyholders believed the change would dilute their interest in the overall company, reduce their voting control, and limit their dividends. A lawsuit was filed, alleging that information provided to policyholders was misleading. Liberty Mutual settled the lawsuit in December 2001, which required additional disclosure and limited certain compensation to company officers and directors. Despite these concerns, the plan was approved by voting policyholders around November 2001. Leveraging the greater flexibility of the mutual holding company structure, Liberty Mutual transformed from a single-line, highly regional insurer to one of the world's leading property and casualty insurance companies.

Growth and acquisitions

Liberty Mutual's growth has been both organic and through acquisition. Early acquisitions were small, but Liberty Mutual has since made several large acquisitions, including the high-profile acquisition of Safeco Corporation in 2008. Liberty Mutual agreed to acquire all outstanding shares of Safeco for $68.25 per share, for a total transaction price of approximately $6.2 billion. The result of this activity was an increase in revenue from $6 billion to over $30 billion in twelve years. In 1999, the company purchased Wausau Insurance Cos.

Liberty Mutual created a 2006 television commercial depicting people doing good for others, reporting that the "overwhelming" positive response led to its decision to create the website The Responsibility Project. Liberty Mutual is the sole corporate sponsor of the long-running PBS documentary series American Experience. In 2011, as part of the company's "Real America" campaign, the company introduced two new commercials featuring Sacagawea and Paul Revere.

In 2011, the company began constructing the Liberty Mutual Tower, a 22-story skyscraper as part of a headquarters expansion project. The building received its certificate of occupancy in June 2013.

In May 2017, Liberty Mutual Insurance completed its acquisition of Bermuda-based Ironshore Inc. from Fosun International Limited for $2.93 billion. In October 2019, Liberty Mutual acquired Nationale Borg, Nationale Borg Reinsurance and AmTrust Insurance Spain, which are credit and surety reinsurance subsidiaries of AmTrust Financial Services.

In July 2021, Liberty Mutual agreed to acquire State Auto Group for over $2 billion. In August 2022, Liberty Mutual acquired AmGeneral Insurance Berhad, a Malaysian insurance company.

Founded in 1954, the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety studied the occupational safety and health of workers. Its scientific contributions include machine safeguarding guidelines, the Cornell-Liberty Survival Car and ergonomic guidelines that have informed the basis for national and international safety standards. More recently, the institute developed the Workplace Safety Index, an annual ranking of the leading causes of the most disabling occupational injuries in the U.S.

The institute's scientists conducted field and laboratory experiments to study the major causes of work-related injury and disability, publishing their results in peer-reviewed scientific literature. Institute findings are the basis for safety programs, recommendations and software used by Liberty Mutual loss-control consultants to help policyholders enhance worker safety. The institute's work was non-proprietary and available to the public.

The institute closed in May 2017.

Controversy

In 2006, Liberty Mutual employees in the Los Angeles area sued, claiming that the company had failed to pay their overtime salaries. They attempted to certify a class-action suit, but it was dismissed on technical grounds.

In late 2012, the company won an appeal granting it the ability to not pay employees for work performed on an overtime basis. Liberty Mutual relied on an amicus brief filed on behalf of the U.S. Department of Labor. The court decided, based on the brief, that claims personnel are exempt "administrative employees" and not eligible for overtime pay. In late 2012, the Supreme Court of California depublished a contrary decision on the same issue.

In 2012 and 2013, The Boston Globe published a series of articles concerning Liberty Mutual executives' excessive compensation and weekend trips using the company's fleet of five long-range corporate jets.