Captive Insurance and Alternative Risk Transfer Specialty
What is “Captive Insurance”? In very simple terms, captive insurance is the use of a separately incorporated insurance company to cover the risks of one or more individuals or legal entities that are directly or indirectly related to the insurer, and able to exercise some degree of control over the captive insurer. There is a broad range of structures that are viewed as captive insurance structures in the industry, with some deviations from this basic definition.

Who uses “Captive Insurance”? In the last decade, captive insurance and other forms of alternative risk transfer have become a major, and in some industries dominant, form of protection against liability risks. The healthcare industry is one field in which captives are commonly used, where they may be owned by a single hospital or hospital system, a group of unrelated hospitals, a large group of physicians, or a chain of nursing home facilities. Captives are also commonly found insuring various other large organizations, such as certain retailers, distribution businesses, and transportation concerns.

Our practice: Our captive insurance and alternative risk transfer practice is responsive to client needs. We may provide ongoing, general representation of a captive in a variety of corporate, insurance and regulatory matters, or we may handle specific, isolated matters or simply be available when legal questions arise. We have experience with a wide range of captive insurance and alternative risk transfer structures, including:

• Offshore single-parent captives
• Offshore group captives
• Segregated cell captives
• Offshore captives making the 953(d) tax election
• Domestic captives
• Risk retention groups
• Risk purchasing groups
• Self-insurance trusts
• Rent-a-captive arrangements
• High deductible arrangements

We believe that our captive insurance and alternative risk transfer practice is distinguished by our breadth of experience, our ability to provide focused attention and be responsive, and our cost effectiveness.

Our captive insurance expertise: Zach Fryer is the firm's primary attorney for captive insurance and alternative risk financing matters. Mr. Fryer has nearly seven years of experience working with captive insurers and related structures. Mr. Fryer has worked with a range of captive types, including offshore single-owner and multi-owner captives, segregated portfolio company captives, rent-a-captives in several domiciles (Bermuda, Cayman, and Barbados), and onshore captives and risk retention groups domiciled in South Carolina, Arizona, Nevada, and Kentucky. He has worked on the formation, ongoing operation, and winding-down of captives in various circumstances, as well as the transfer of risks between separate captives, and between a self-insurance trust and a captive. Mr. Fryer has spoken on captive insurance at several conferences, and is a contributing author to one of the few published books on captive insurance, Alternative Risk Financing for Healthcare Organizations, published by the American Health Lawyers Association in 2005.

Jill Krolikowski provides support for Mr. Fryer in captive insurance matters, as needed. Ms. Krolikowski practiced with Mr. Fryer for more than two years at the same large law firm, working with him and other attorneys on a wide range of captive insurance matters, as well as other types of insurance matters including research and evaluation of state regulatory issues in various U.S. states, the evaluation of insurance coverage positions and questions of coverage under various insurance policies, and litigation of insurance coverage matters.