Nevada Countersignature Law Struck Down
The Ninth Circuit has struck down Nevada’s countersignature law which required out-of-state insurance agents to get a resident agent to sign off on business written in Nevada. The Nevada statute provided that no authorized insurer may make, write, place, or renew any insurance policy on persons, property, or risks in Nevada, “except through its duly appointed and licensed agents resident in [Nevada], any one of whom shall countersign the policy.” The statute further required that the resident agent be paid a 5% commission for all work written in Nevada. The Ninth Circuit found that the statute created “two classes of insurance agents in Nevada, one class of licensed resident agents that can finalize insurance contracts, and a second class of licensed nonresident agents that cannot.” The Ninth Circuit found that the Nevada law violated the Privileges and Immunities Clause of Article IV of the Constitution on the basis that “it discriminates against citizens of other States where there is no substantial reason for the discrimination beyond the mere fact that they are citizens of other States.”
