Yaghoubian

MEMORANDUM *

Plaintiff Nejde F. Yaghoubian appeals the granting of summary judgment against him in his diversity action against Defendant Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company. On de novo review, we affirm.

A. Breach of Contract

To be eligible for lifetime benefits under his disability insurance policy, Yaghoubian had to have been totally disabled on the policy anniversary closest to his 60th birthday, i.e., August 22, 1994, and had to continue to be totally disabled until the first policy anniversary after his 65th birthday, i.e., August 22, 1999. Under the terms of the policy, total disability meant that he was (1) “unable to perform the principal duties of his occupation,” and (2) not “gainfully employed in any occupation.”

Yaghoubian interprets the first requirement to mean “unable to perform any *94 of the principal duties of his occupation.” Because he was unable to perform one of his principal duties (marketing for Quan-tech Systems), he asserts that he was totally disabled.

There are two problems with Yaghoubiaris proposed interpretation. First, his reading of “total disability” would -duplicate the policy’s definition of “partial disability” and thus take one…

concurring in part, dissenting in part.

Because I believe that genuine questions of material fact exist as to whether Ya-ghoubian satisfied the eligibility criteria for total disability benefits, I respectfully dissent from the majority’s affirmance of the grant of summary judgment in Northwestern’s favor on the breach of contract claim. First, it is disputed whether Ya-ghoubian was totally unable to perform his “principal duties.” That term is nowhere defined in the policy at issue. The record contains evidence that when Yaghoubian purchased a lifetime disability endorsement from Northwestern, he considered the marketing and client development aspects of his position to be the “principal” duties he performed as the proprietor of Quantech Systems. There also exists evidence demonstrating that before becoming disabled, Yaghoubian spent the bulk of his time engaged in marketing and business development. The majority is correct that Erreca v. Western States Life Insurance Co., 19 Cal.2d 388 , 121 P.2d 689, 695-96 (Cal.1942), holds that in order to be “totally disabled” under California law, a policyholder must be unable to perform all of his principal duties. To the extent that…