RLI Corp. (NYSE: RLI) is an American property and casualty insurance company headquartered in Peoria, Illinois, with eighteen branch offices conducting business in all fifty U.S. states. Founded in 1965, RLI was one of the first insurers of contact lenses; the letters RLI originally stood for Replacement Lens Insurance, Inc. The company diversified into other types of insurance lines in the 1970s. In December 1996, RLI sold its RLI Vision unit to Maui Jim, a manufacturer of luxury sunglasses. The transaction was structured so that RLI ended up becoming a major shareholder in Maui Jim, a situation which has continued to the present.
Today, the company mainly offers specialty property/casualty coverage for niche markets: risks that are hard to place in the standard market. Its RLI Insurance subsidiary writes commercial insurance in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. RLI's surplus lines subsidiary Mt. Hawley Insurance writes insurance in all those same locations, as well as Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. RLI's property/casualty lines include commercial and personal liability, commercial property, directors and officers liability, general liability, and surety. Transportation, employers excess indemnity, and residential property are among its other lines.