Reinsurance

Standard Casualty is primarily a specialty writer of manufactured home physical damage insurance. Certain of Standard Casualty's premiums and benefits are assumed from and ceded to other insurance companies under various reinsurance agreements. The ceded reinsurance agreements provide Standard Casualty with increased capacity to write larger risks and maintain its exposure to loss within its capital resources. Standard Casualty remains obligated for amounts ceded in the event that the reinsurers do not meet their obligations. Substantially all of Standard Casualty's assumed reinsurance is with one entity.

The effects of reinsurance on premiums written and earned are as follows (in thousands):



	Three Months Ended
	December 31, 2016						December 26, 2015
	Written			Earned			Written			Earned
Direct premiums	$	3,735		$	4,008		$	3,559		$	3,714
Assumed premiums—nonaffiliate	5,504			6,146			4,855			5,391
Ceded premiums—nonaffiliate	(3,063		)	(3,063		)	(2,699		)	(2,699		)
Net premiums	$	6,176		$	7,091		$	5,715		$	6,406



	Nine Months Ended
	December 31, 2016						December 26, 2015
	Written			Earned			Written			Earned
Direct premiums	$	11,870		$	11,926		$	11,219		$	10,971
Assumed premiums—nonaffiliate	18,603			17,719			16,120			15,769
Ceded premiums—nonaffiliate	(9,360		)	(9,360		)	(8,135		)	(8,135		)
Net premiums	$	21,113		$	20,285		$	19,204		$	18,605

Typical insurance policies written or assumed by Standard Casualty have a maximum coverage of $300,000 per claim, of which Standard cedes $200,000 of the risk of loss per reinsurance. Therefore, Standard Casualty maintains risk of loss limited to $100,000 per claim on typical policies. After this limit, amounts are recoverable by Standard Casualty through reinsurance for catastrophic losses in excess of $1.0 million per occurrence up to a maximum of $44.0 million in the aggregate. As of January 1, 2017, amounts recoverable through reinsurance for catastrophic losses are in excess of $1.5 million per occurrence up to a maximum of $43.5 million in the aggregate.

Purchasing reinsurance contracts protects Standard Casualty from frequency and/or severity of losses incurred on insurance policies issued, such as in the case of a catastrophe that generates a large number of serious claims on multiple policies at the same time.