Explaining the reasoning behind such laws, Richard A. Brown, a top surplus-lines lawyer based in San Francisco, says, “The concept [used to be] that if licensed or admitted insurers in the state were unwilling to write the risk, the risk could be 'exported' to the 'non-admitted' or surplus lines market outside the state. That has changed.”

Brown adds, “Today, the surplus lines market is recognized by regulators and lawmakers as a critical and highly reputable segment of the property and casualty insurance industry.”

Brown says states “are realizing that it makes little sense in the real world to prevent an surplus-lines insurer from insuring risks such as airports, bridges, harbors, and similar major state infrastructure risks, as well as other specialty risks, in its state of domicile.”

According to SNL Financial, Chubb wrote $421.5 million in surplus-lines premiums in 2012, a 13.6 percent increase over the $371.2 million in direct surplus-lines premiums it wrote in 2011.

Commenting on the New Jersey legislation that allowed the company to write surplus-lines business in its home state, Chubb's President of Commercial and Specialty Lines Paul J. Krump says, “Passage of this act made New Jersey one of only a few U.S. states to permit a domestic insurer to offer surplus-lines products to customers in its state of domicile.”

“Chubb already is a major surplus-lines insurer throughout the country, but converting Chubb Custom Insurance Company to a 50-state eligible surplus lines insurer will make it even easier to provide customers with our experienced underwriting, valuable loss control recommendations and responsive claim services.”