Simonelli

*675 MEMORANDUM *

After a trial on Antonio Simonelli’s disability discrimination claims, the jury rendered a verdict in favor of defendants University of California at Berkeley, its law school, and several of its employees (collectively, “the University”). Now, Simonelli appeals the district court’s orders denying his motion for new trial and his motion for partial attorney fees. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

First, to whatever extent a psychiatrist may testify that someone claiming mental illness is malingering, Lipian’s testimony clearly crossed the line into an inadmissible general opinion of Simonelli’s character as a human being. See, e.g., United States v. Sine, 493 F.3d 1021, 1040 (9th Cir.2007) (“The jury has the ultimate task of making credibility determinations about individual witnesses.... ”). The district court abused its discretion in allowing Lipian to testify, for example, that Simonelli was motivated by secondary gain, that he has a long history (prior to the events of this case) of “gaming the system,” and that he is a “my way or the highway kind of guy.” These and other examples go way beyond a permissible professional opinion…