Liberty Mutual was formed 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.
