The firm alleges it invested nearly $20 million based on federal approvals later reversed.
A crop insurance software company says federal regulators pulled the rug out from under it - after repeatedly approving its business model.
Brisk Insurance Services LLC, a Montana-based policy administration software developer, is taking on the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation and the Risk Management Agency in a case that could ripple across the crop and livestock insurance sector. The suit, filed March 10, 2026, in the US District Court for the District of Columbia (Case No. 1:26-cv-00842), challenges a recently issued Manager's Bulletin that Brisk says effectively kills its business.
At the heart of the dispute is a familiar question for insurers: what counts as agent compensation under the Standard Reinsurance Agreement?
The SRA caps what Approved Insurance Providers can pay to agents at 80 percent of the A&O subsidy and CAT LAE in any state — a safeguard introduced after American Growers Insurance Company became insolvent in 2002 following excessive agent payouts. For years, RMA's own guidance carved out policy administration software from that cap. The reasoning was straightforward: software is a necessary tool for agents to service policies, not a perk.
Brisk was built on that understanding. Its founders - two established software developers - approached RMA in 2022 before committing significant resources, disclosing their plan to build a platform that AIPs would license and provide to Farm Credit agents. Between September 2022 and November 2023, RMA issued multiple letters stating it found no SRA violations in the proposed arrangement. Four AIPs - American Agricultural Insurance Company, Great American Insurance Company, Rural Community Insurance Company, and QBE Americas, Inc. - each independently sought and obtained similar assurances from RMA regarding their proposed arrangements with Brisk.
Relying on those approvals, Brisk says it spent approximately $19.7 million developing its platform, hired over 50 staff, obtained SOC 2 cybersecurity certification, and went live in February 2025.
Then came the reversal.
On February 20, 2026, RMA issued Manager's Bulletin MGR-26-002, introducing three new conditions under which software payments would be treated as agent compensation: if the software developer is funded by the agencies benefiting from the software, if those agencies can control the developer's work, or if the software is not made available to all of an AIP's agents. Brisk says those three conditions map precisely onto the business model RMA had previously approved.
The filing contends that the bulletin was driven not by policy concerns but by competitive pressure from rival AIPs and agents who viewed Brisk's software as a threat. It alleges RMA failed to acknowledge the shift from its prior position, offered no reasoning for the change, and ignored the significant investments made in reliance on its earlier approvals.
Brisk says AIP payments account for roughly 98.6 percent of its projected revenue. If the bulletin stands, the company expects all four of its AIP partners to drop it from their Plans of Operations, forcing layoffs and a full wind-down of operations.
No ruling has been issued. The case remains in its earliest stages, and the allegations have not been tested in court.
Source - https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com
