Acceptance Insurance Companies Inc. Announces Denial of Class Certification.

Business Editors & Legal Writers

OMAHA, Neb.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 15, 2000

Acceptance Insurance Companies Inc. (NYSE:AIF) announced today that plaintiffs' request for class action status in a pending suit on behalf of all rice farmers who applied for the Company's CropRevenue CoveragePlus(R) (CRCPlus) has been denied.

In an order filed March 10, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas ruled plaintiffs failed to demonstrate their claims are typical of class members who elected coverage alternatives different from the alternatives the plaintiffs chose for themselves, and that a conflict may exist between persons who withdrew their applications and those who accepted the Company's offer to provide coverage at 1 1/2 cents per pound. The Court said the nature of any damages suffered by plaintiffs was unclear, and that "the difference in coverage selected or not selected carries with it a myriad of individualized inquiries such as reliance, formation of a contract, and nature of damages." Plaintiffs have until March 24 to apply to the federal Court of Appeals for permission to immediately appeal from the order.

The Court also reaffirmed its earlier dismissal of plaintiffs' claim the Company acted in bad faith, concluding that the "Arkansas courts would not extend the tort of bad faith to the fact situation presented here."

"When this action was filed we said it was without merit and would not deter us from our commitment to provide effective risk management choices to American agricultural producers," said J. Michael Gottschalk, General Counsel and Secretary of the Company. "Since that time our companies have made CRCPlus and other crop insurance products available to thousands of agents and farmers, just as we said we would. We nevertheless are pleased the Court recognized, based on the undisputed facts and clear legal precedent referred to in the Order, that we provided CRCPlus coverage to all rice farmers who chose to purchase that coverage and that this was not a proper class action."

Acceptance Insurance Companies Inc. is an insurance holding company providing specialized crop, property and casualty insurance products throughout the United States. American Agrisurance, the company's wholly owned crop insurance marketing subsidiary, is a widely recognized leader in the crop insurance industry.