Hallmark Financial Services, Inc. Files With the Illinois Division of Insurance to...

Hallmark Financial Services, Inc. Files With the Illinois Division of
Insurance to Acquire up to 50% of the Common Stock of Specialty Underwriters'
Alliance, Inc.

CHICAGO, April 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Specialty Underwriters' Alliance,
Inc. (Nasdaq: SUAI) ("SUA" or the "Company") announced today that on March
30, 2009, Hallmark Financial Services, Inc. ("Hallmark") filed a Form A with
the Illinois Division of Insurance to gain approval to acquire up to 50% of
the Company's outstanding common stock.

Courtney Smith, Chairman of SUA, stated, "Although Hallmark states in its Form
A filing that it does not intend to control SUA, Hallmark has made contrary
assertions. Both in public announcements and in private conversations with
SUA's management, Hallmark's Chairman, Mark Schwarz, has repeatedly expressed
Hallmark's desire to control the Company. Given recent events, we believe it
is important for our stockholders to receive this information."

Mr. Smith continued, "We believe that Hallmark is setting itself up to do a
creeping acquisition of control of SUA that would not provide any control
premium to SUA stockholders. We believe that this would not be in the best
interest of our stockholders."

Mr. Smith concluded, "We will always consider ways to grow value for all of
our stockholders, including a strategic transaction that could provide a
control premium for all of our stockholders."

About Specialty Underwriters' Alliance, Inc.
Specialty Underwriters' Alliance, Inc., through its subsidiary SUA Insurance
Company, is a specialty property and casualty insurance company providing
commercial insurance products through exclusive wholesale Partner Agents that
serve niche groups of insureds. These targeted customers require highly
specialized knowledge due to their unique risk characteristics. Examples
include tow trucks, professional employer organizations, public entities, and
contractors. SUA's innovative approach provides products and claims handling,
allowing the Partner Agent to focus on distribution and customer
relationships.

Safe Harbor Statement
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor"
for forward-looking statements. This release or any other written or oral
statements made by or on behalf of the company may include forward-looking
statements that reflect the company's current views with respect to future
events and financial performance. All statements other than statements of
historical fact included in this release are forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of
forward-looking terminology such as "may," "will," "plan," "expect," "intend,"
"estimate," "anticipate," "believe" or "continue" or their negative or
variations or similar terminology. All forward-looking statements address
matters that involve risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, there are or will
be important factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially
from those indicated in these statements. We believe that these factors
include but are not limited to ineffectiveness or obsolescence of our business
strategy due to changes in current or future market conditions; increased
competition on the basis of pricing, capacity, coverage terms or other
factors; greater frequency or severity of claims and loss activity, including
as a result of natural or man-made catastrophic events, than our underwriting,
reserving or investment practices anticipate based on historical experience or
industry data; the effects of acts of terrorism or war; developments in the
world's financial and capital markets that adversely affect the performance of
our investments; changes in regulations or laws applicable to us, our
subsidiaries, brokers or customers; acceptance of our products and services,
including new products and services; changes in the availability, cost or
quality of reinsurance and failure of our reinsurers to pay claims timely or
at all; decreased demand for our insurance or reinsurance products; loss of
the services of any of our executive officers or other key personnel; the
effects of mergers, acquisitions and divestitures; changes in rating agency
policies or practices; changes in legal theories of liability under our
insurance policies; changes in accounting policies or practices; and changes
in general economic conditions, including inflation and other factors.
Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made,
and the company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any
forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future
developments or otherwise.

SOURCE Specialty Underwriters' Alliance, Inc.

Scott Goodreau of Specialty Underwriters' Alliance, Inc., 1-888-782-4672,
sgoodreau@suainsurance.com; or Leslie Loyet of Financial Relations Board,
+1-312-640-6672, lloyet@mww.com, for Specialty Underwriters' Alliance, Inc.