Insurance Law

Nevada Counter Sig Law Struck Down

By The authors are Martin F. Grace and J. Tyler Leverty, professors of insurance and risk management a

This is an interesting case noted by Diane Polscer at the National Insurance Law Forum. The 9th Circuit struck down a state law requiring insurance contracts to be signed by an agent licensed and residing within the state. What is interesting is that this case never once mentions the McCarran-Ferguson Act (MFA) which essentially says that the commerce power cannot be used as a barrier to, or restriction on, then state regulation of insurance. In Met v. Ward the Supreme Court struck down an Alabama tax which taxed foreign insurers at a higher rate than domestics using the Equal Protection Clause. In this 9th Circuit case the Court used the Privileges and Immunities Clause of Article IV! So, in jest I ask, what is left of the MFA? (And don't say the antitrust immunity either...)

Full post as published by RiskProf on April 18, 2008 (boomark / email).