Federal Crop Insurance - Some Recent Case Developments

Overview

When the Congress eventually gets around to debating the next Farm Bill, I suspect that crop insurance will comprise a significant part of the discussion.  In certain parts of the country in recent years, crop insurance comprised the largest portion of farm income.  Given that one of those areas, Kansas, is represented in the Senate by the chair of the Senate Ag Committee, that practically guarantees that crop insurance will get plenty of attention by the politicians during the Farm Bill debate. 

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) was created in 1938 to carry out the fledgling crop insurance program.  That program was basically an experimental one until the Congress passed the Federal Crop Insurance Act (FCIA) of 1980.  Changes were made to the crop insurance program on multiple occasions and, in 1994, the program underwent a major overhaul with the Federal Crop Insurance Reform Act of 1994 which made it mandatory for farmers to participate in the program to qualify for various federal farm program benefits. 

With the 1996 Farm bill, the mandatory participation in crop insurance was repealed, so to speak.  However, if a farmer received other farm program benefits the farmer had to buy crop insurance for the crop year or waive eligibility for disaster benefits for that year.  In addition, the Risk Management Agency (RMA) was also created in 1996 as a part of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).  The RMA administers the FCIC programs and other risk management programs in conjunction with private sector entities to develop insurance products for farmers. 

In recent months, the courts have decided numerous cases involving crop insurance.  In today’s post, I take a look at three of them.  Each of them involves unique issues.

RMA and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Requests

In Bush v. United States Department of Agriculture, No. 16-CV-4128-CJW, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 131381 (N.D. Iowa Aug. 17, 2017), the RMA pursuant to the FOIA. The plaintiff was seeking the disclosure of soybean and corn yield within four townships in Cherokee County, Iowa. The RMA provided a no records in response to the plaintiff’s request explaining that it did not have the information available by section for townships within a county. The court determined that the purpose of the FOIA is to give the public greater access to governmental records. However, there are exceptions to this rule. The court determined that summary judgment for an agency is appropriate when the agency shows that it made a good faith effort to conduct a search for the requested records, using methods which can reasonably be expected to produce the information requested. However, the agency does not have to search every record system. In addition, the court pointed out that the FOIA neither requires an agency to answer questions disguised as FOIA requests or to create documents or opinions in response to an individual’s request for information.

The court concluded that the evidence illustrated that RMA did not maintain records matching the description of the plaintiff’s requests. Although it did collect some information from the records of insurance companies which would contain some of the information the plaintiff sought, it did not maintain records containing the precise information requested. As a result, the RMA was not required to provide information that it did not have to the plaintiff, and the court granted RMA’s motion for summary judgment. 

Actual Production History

In Ausmus v. Perdue, No. 16-cv-01984-RBJ, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 169305 (D. Colo. Oct. 13, 2017), the plaintiffs, farmers who produce winter what in Baca County, Colorado, sought judicial review of an adverse decision of the RMA which was subsequently affirmed by the National Appeals Division (NAD). Section 11009 of the 2014 Farm Bill amended subparagraph 1508(g)(4)(C) of the FCIA to add an APH Yield Exclusion to give crop producers the opportunity to exclude uncharacteristically bad crop years from the RMA’s calculation of how much crop insurance coverage they are entitled to. The plaintiffs wished to insure their 2015 winter wheat crop. Believing that they were eligible to invoke the APH Yield Exclusion, they gave their crop insurance agents letters electing to exclude all eligible crop years for purposes of calculating their coverage. After receiving the letters from the plaintiff and other crop producers, crop insurance providers contacted the RMA requesting guidance on how to handle the APH Yield Exclusion elections concerning the 2015 winter wheat crop. The RMA informed insurance providers that it had authorized the APH Yield exclusion for most crops for 2015, but it did not authorize the APH Yield Exclusion for winter wheat. As a result, the Agency directed insurance providers to deny winter wheat producers’ requests for the APH Yield Exclusion.

The plaintiffs challenged the directive as an adverse decision appealable to NAD. A NAD Hearing Officer conducted a hearing and issued a determination that NAD did not have jurisdiction over the matter and did not reach the merits. The plaintiffs then requested NAD Director Review of the Hearing Officer’s Determination pursuant to 7 C.F.R. § 11.9. The NAD Director reversed the Hearing Officer’s determination as to jurisdiction, but also held that the RMA has discretion to determine the appropriate time to implement the APH Yield Exclusion with regard to 2015 winter wheat. This decision effectively affirmed the RMA’s decision not to authorize the APH Yield exclusion. The plaintiffs appealed, and the trial court determined that, absent clear direction by Congress to the contrary, a law takes effect on the date of its enactment. The court noted that there was no statutory indication that it would take effect other than on the date of its enactment. The court viewed Congress’ silence as an expression that it meant the APH Yield Exclusion to be immediately available to producers on the date the Farm Bill was signed into law. Consequently, the court reversed the NAD Director’s decision and remanded this case for the proper application of the APH Yield Exclusion. 

Criminal Investigations

In POCO, L.L.C. v. Farmers Crop Ins. All., Inc., No. 16-35310, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 20853 (9th Cir. Oct. 23, 2017), the defendant was a federal crop insurer and the plaintiff was a farming operation that raised potatoes and onions. The plaintiff claimed that it purchased a federal crop insurance policy from the defendant and tendered an insurance claim to the defendant in 2004. The defendant denied the claim and the plaintiff demanded arbitration. The arbitrator found for the plaintiff, requiring the defendant to pay $1,454,450 plus interest on the claim. The defendant appealed the arbitrator’s award, but the trial court affirmed the award for the plaintiff. While the claim was in dispute the USDA was, unbeknownst to the plaintiff, conducting a criminal investigation of the plaintiff for an alleged scheme to profit from the filing of false federal crop insurance claims. Ultimately, the plaintiff and its principal were indicted based on their acceptance of the arbitration award which the government claimed constituted a criminal act. At the subsequent trial, the court dismissed all of the counts with prejudice.

The plaintiff had also sued the defendant for breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation, and violation of the Washington Consumer Protection Act (WCPA). The plaintiff claimed that the defendant had acted as the USDA’s agent and, as a result, the arbitration award was simply a ruse to entrap the plaintiff. The plaintiff claimed that if it had known about the criminal investigation that it could have required the USDA’s direct involvement in the arbitration process and be assured that no criminal charges were pending.  The plaintiff also claimed that USDA's direct involvement would have allowed it to get a court order that the plaintiff had a right to recover on its claims. The trial court granted summary judgment for the defendant holding that a private insurance company has no authority to bind the federal government from pursuing a criminal prosecution, absent involvement from a party with the requisite authority. The trial court ruled that it was unreasonable as a matter of law for a settlement agreement between private parties which clearly defines the subject matter of the agreement, to preclude criminal prosecution by the government. The plaintiff appealed.

The Mutual Release in the parties’ contract provided that the defendant, “for itself and for its insurance companies, and related companies” releases the plaintiff from liability for claims arising out of the plaintiff’s claim for indemnity under the 2003 crop insurance policies issued by the defendant. The plaintiff argued that “its insurance companies” included the Federal Crop Insurance Company and, therefore, the federal government. However, the appellate court held that the phrase could not reasonably be interpreted to bind the federal government and prevent the Department of Justice from pursing a criminal prosecution against the plaintiff for events related to the 2003 policies. Furthermore, the limited scope of the release could not be reasonably read to encompass the criminal charges filed against the plaintiff, which dealt with inflating crop baseline prices to increase eventual payouts on numerous insurance policies. Thus, the appellate court affirmed the trial court’s grant of summary judgment on the breach of contract claim. The plaintiff also alleged misrepresentation of a material fact. The appellate court determined, however, that the plaintiff failed to demonstrate a genuine factual dispute as to whether the defendant knew that the plaintiff was under a criminal investigation. The plaintiff’s evidence in support of that proposition stemmed from a 2004 insurance policy, rather than the 2003 insurance policy at issue in this case.

Consequently, the appellate court agreed with the trial court that, as a matter of law, the plaintiff could not have reasonably relied on the purported misrepresentation. Therefore, the trial court’s grant of summary judgment on the plaintiff’s misrepresentation claim was granted. Finally, the plaintiff’s WCPA claim failed because there was no misrepresentation, deception or unfairness. The terms of the contract were not deceptive and the plaintiff did not make a showing that there was a genuine dispute over whether the defendant knew about the criminal investigation. 

Conclusion

These cases are just three of those that have been recently decided by the federal courts involving crop insurance.  Crop insurance is important, but it is imperative to follow the rules.  Because those rules are often complex and difficult to understand, it is important for a farmer to have competent legal counsel to provide guidance through the issues.