Opinion of the Court — Qidwai v. Prudential Insurance Co. of America

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Type: Opinion of the Court
Filed: Feb. 20, 2003
Case: Qidwai v. Prudential Insurance Co. of America
Case status: Decided

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MEMORANDUM * Nahid Qidwai appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Prudential Insurance Company. In determining whether Prudential properly denied Qidwai disability benefits under her ERISA plan, the district court concluded that Qidwai failed to raise a genuine issue of material fact, yet it declined to consider vocational expert Freeman Leeth’s report which Qidwai had submitted to Prudential. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we reverse. Leeth’s report, in light of all of the other evidence of Qidwai’s physical restrictions and failed attempts at work, created a genuine issue of material fact *426 sufficient to defeat summary judgment in Prudential’s favor. Cf. Nord v. Black Decker, 296 F.3d 823, 832 (9th Cir.2002) (considering lone plan doctor’s opinion that claimant was not disabled, but determining that this opinion did not create triable issue of fact in light of all other evidence to contrary). The district court was not free simply to refuse to consider the report because it found that the administrative record supported a conclusion that plaintiff does not have an impairment that would prevent her from performing her own occu…

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