The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers said its six-year legal battle to eliminate countersignature statutes is finally over with the state of Nevada declining to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court.

Countersignature laws awarded resident agents a percentage of the commission for business placed by out-of-state brokers even though there was no work involved, just their signature on a form.

The Washington, D.C.-based association said Nevada's Department of Insurance indicated that it has no intention to file an appeal.

“July 9 is the true Independence Day this year for Council members,” said CIAB president Ken A. Crerar in a statement. “Although our members spent millions to eradicate these statutes, they stand to realize millions more that will flow to their agency's bottom lines now that they are finally free of countersignature commission-sharing.”

A ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld an earlier ruling in favor of the CIAB by U.S. District Judge James C. Mahan, who found “no rational basis” for the countersignature requirement.

Nevada and Florida were the first states the CIAB sued to eliminate countersignature requirements in 2002. The Florida statute was thrown out in 2003. Similar statutes in West Virginia, South Dakota, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico were either thrown out by the courts or local legislators repealed the laws.