§ 44-4403 — Terms, defined

For purposes of the Risk Retention Act, unless the context otherwise requires:
(1) Commissioner shall mean the commissioner, director, or superintendent of insurance in any other state;
(2) Completed operations liability shall mean liability arising out of the installation, maintenance, or repair of any product at a site which is not owned or controlled by (a) any person who performs the work or (b) any person who hires an independent contractor to perform the work. The term shall include liability for activities completed or abandoned before the date of the occurrence giving rise to the liability;
(3) Department shall mean the Department of Insurance;
(4) Director shall mean the Director of Insurance;
(5) Domicile, for purposes of determining the state in which a purchasing group is domiciled, shall mean (a) for a corporation, the state in which the purchasing group is incorporated and (b) for an unincorporated entity, the state of its principal place of business;
(6) Hazardous financial condition shall mean that, based on its present or reasonably anticipated financial condition, a risk retention group, although not yet financially impaired or insolvent, is unlikely to be able to (a) meet obligations to policyholders with respect to known claims and reasonably anticipated claims or (b) pay other obligations in the normal course of business;
(7) Insurance shall mean primary insurance, excess insurance, reinsurance, surplus lines insurance, and any other arrangement for shifting and distributing risk which is determined to be insurance under the laws of this state;
(8) Liability shall mean legal liability for damages, including the cost of defense, legal costs and fees, and other claim expenses, for injuries to other persons, damage to their property, or other damage or loss to such other persons resulting from or arising out of (a) any profit or nonprofit business, trade, product, services, including professional services, premises, or operations or (b) any activity of any state or local government or any agency or political subdivision thereof. The term shall not include personal risk liability, workers' compensation, and an employer's liability with respect to its employees other than legal liability under the Federal Employers' Liability Act, 45 U.S.C. 51 et seq.;
(9) Personal risk liability shall mean liability for damages for injury to any person, damage to property, or other loss or damage resulting from any personal, familial, or household responsibilities or activities rather than from responsibilities or activities referred to in subdivision (8) of this section;
(10) Plan of operation or a feasibility study shall mean an analysis which presents the expected activities and results of a risk retention group including at a minimum:
(a) Information sufficient to verify that its members are engaged in businesses or activities similar or related with respect to the liability to which members are exposed by virtue of any related, similar, or common business, trade, product, services, premises, or operations;
(b) The coverages, deductibles, coverage limits, rates, and rating classification systems for each line of insurance the group intends to offer;
(c) Historical and expected loss experience of the proposed members and national experience of similar exposures to the extent that such experience is reasonably available;
(d) Pro forma financial statements and projections;
(e) Appropriate opinions by a qualified, independent casualty actuary, including a determination of minimum premium or participation levels required to commence operations and to prevent a hazardous financial condition;
(f) Identification of management, underwriting and claims procedures, marketing methods, managerial oversight methods, investment policies, and reinsurance agreements;
(g) Identification of each state in which the risk retention group has obtained or sought to obtain a charter and license and a description of its status in each such state; and
(h) Such other matters as may be prescribed by the commissioner of the state in which the risk retention group is chartered and licensed for liability insurance companies authorized by the insurance laws of that state;
(11) Product liability shall mean liability for damages for any personal injury, death, emotional harm, consequential economic damage, or property damage, including damages resulting from loss of use of property, arising out of the manufacture, design, importation, distribution, packaging, labeling, lease, or sale of a product but shall not include the liability of any person for such damages if the product involved was in the possession of the person when the incident giving rise to the claim occurred;
(12) Purchasing group shall mean any group which:
(a) Has as one of its purposes the purchase of liability insurance on a group basis;
(b) Purchases such insurance only for its members and only to cover their similar or related liability exposure as described in subdivision (c) of this subdivision;
(c) Is composed of members whose businesses or activities are similar or related with respect to the liability to which members are exposed by virtue of any related, similar, or common business, trade, product, services, premises, or operations; and
(d) Is domiciled in any state;
(13) Risk retention group shall mean a corporation or other limited liability association formed under the laws of any state, Bermuda, or the Cayman Islands:
(a) Whose primary activity consists of assuming and spreading all or part of the liability exposure of its members;
(b) That is organized for the primary purpose of conducting the activity described under subdivision (a) of this subdivision;
(c) That (i) is chartered and licensed as a liability insurance company and authorized to engage in the business of insurance under the laws of any state or (ii) before January 1, 1985, was chartered or licensed and authorized to engage in the business of insurance under the laws of Bermuda or the Cayman Islands and, before such date, had certified to the commissioner of at least one state that it satisfied the capitalization requirements of such state, except that any such group shall be considered to be a risk retention group only if it has been engaged in business continuously since such date and only for the purpose of continuing to provide insurance to cover product liability or completed operations liability as such terms were defined in the federal Product Liability Risk Retention Act of 1981 before the date of the enactment of the Risk Retention Act of 1986;
(d) That does not exclude any person from membership in a group solely to provide members of such group a competitive advantage over such person;
(e) That (i) has as its owners only persons who comprise the membership of the risk retention group and who are provided insurance by such group or (ii) has as its sole owner an organization which has as (A) its members only persons who comprise the membership of the risk retention group and (B) its owners only persons who comprise the membership of the risk retention group and who are provided insurance by such group;
(f) Whose members are engaged in businesses or activities similar or related with respect to the liability of which such members are exposed by virtue of any related, similar, or common business, trade, product, services, premises, or operations;
(g) Whose activities do not include the provision of insurance other than (i) liability insurance for assuming and spreading all or any portion of the liability of its group members and (ii) reinsurance with respect to the liability of any other risk retention group or any members of such other group that is engaged in businesses or activities so that such group or member meets the requirement described in subdivision (f) of this subdivision from membership in the risk retention group which provides such reinsurance; and
(h) The name of which includes the phrase Risk Retention Group; and
(14) State shall mean any state of the United States or the District of Columbia.

Legislative History

Source: Laws 1987, LB 514, § 3; Laws 1991, LB 236, § 46.