The co-op filed the lawsuits in an attempt to force the companies to pay insurance claims filed by sugar beet farmers whose 2000 beet crop was devastated by frost last October.

"Our farmers are hurting badly, and our cooperative has suffered a financial body blow,'' said John Richmond, co-op president and chief executive officer. "Our farmers need help, they have earned it, and they have each paid thousands of dollars of premiums for it. Crop insurance companies that take the farmers' money in premiums have a moral and legal duty to stand behind their policies when losses occur.''

The co-op said the freeze disaster damaged and destroyed more than 1.8 million tons of harvested sugar beets produced by its member farmers. The co-op said the defendant companies had sold the farmers federally backed multi-peril crop insurance polices, which were to protect farmers against weather-related losses.

Despite lengthy discussions involving the co-op, the farmers and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Risk Management Agency, none of the crop insurance companies has paid a single loss claim from the disaster, the cooperative said. The lawsuits charge the companies with breaching their contracts with farmers and ask for compensatory damages.

Besides pursing crop insurance claims, the cooperative is working with members of Congress, including 2nd District Rep. Mark Kennedy and Sen. Mark Dayton, to obtain emergency assistance from USDA to cover some of the damage.

"We don't like having to resort to lawsuits, but our need is real,'' Richmond said. "Our farmers have worked hard, produced a crop, and bought insurance against disaster.

"Now they face going out of business. Many will simply not survive in business without money owed to them. These cases are a real test of whether federally backed crop insurance companies will stand behind their policies when the going gets rough. Every farmer throughout Minnesota and the nation has a stake in the outcome,'' said Richmond.

The companies being sued are Acceptance Insurance Company, American Growers Insurance Company, AgForce Insurance Services Inc., Mountain States Company, NAU Country Insurance Company, Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company, Farmers Alliance Mutual Insurance Company, Alliance Insurance Company, Great American Insurance Company, The Hartford Insurance Company of the Midwest, IGF Insurance Company, Rain & Hail LLC, Agri General Insurance Company, Ace Property & Casualty Insurance Company, Rural Community Insurance Services and Fireman's Fund Insurance Company.