Opinion ID: 77298
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Substantial and Material Duties of Real Estate Occupation

Text: 37 As noted above, the Policies provide that total disability means the insured's inability due to injury or sickness to engage in the substantial and material duties of [the insured's] regular occupation. In his affidavit, Giddens described the functional requirements and tasks for the occupation of construction management and real estate development as follows: 38 entrepreneurial vision and energy; planning real estate projects; selection of house plans and materials; selection of contractors; supervision of construction superintendent(s); periodic inspection of contractors' work quality; financial management of development and construction projects; supervise compliance with building and other regulatory codes; project scheduling; pay bills; pay contractors; work with banks, government agencies, and financial consultants as needed; calculating the feasibility of projects, reviewing sites, and planning for contingencies; and coordination [of] dealings with realtors and agents. 39 Giddens, 356 F.Supp.2d at 1318-19. The duties listed in Giddens's affidavit are basically entrepreneurial, financial, planning, coordinating, and administrative duties. Thus, the record showed what Giddens's substantial and material duties were in his real estate occupation. 6 40 Because Equitable does not now dispute that Giddens was engaged in the occupation of real estate development, the question we must answer for summary judgment purposes is whether, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Equitable, any genuine issue of material fact precludes a finding that Giddens was unable to perform the substantial and material duties of his real estate development occupation. Equitable did not present expert evidence about the substantial and material duties of Giddens's real estate venture. Rather, Equitable primarily asserts that two items in the record contradict Giddens's testimony and create fact issues as to what his real estate duties were. Equitable's brief points to (1) Giddens's representation to the Social Security Administration in his May 1999 Work History Report that the development work was all `[s]ubcontracted to . . . independent contractors' rather than performed by Giddens himself, and (2) his attorney's representation in a letter, dated September 5, 2001, that the real estate business was a passive investment . . . managed primarily by his wife. The district court properly rejected this argument. 41 As for Giddens's representations, in the Social Security report he identified his job title as Real Estate Development and listed his rate of pay as $30,000 per year and his hours as two to five per day, five days per week. 7 Giddens described his development job by completing the Social Security report as follows: 42 Rate of Pay Per ( Circle One ) Hours per day Days per week $30,000 Hour Week Month (Year) 2-5 hrs a day 5 In this job, did you: Use machines, tools or equipment? Yes (explain below) [] No [] Use technical knowledge or skills? Yes (explain below) [] No [] Write reports or complete forms? Yes (explain below) [] No [] Describe this job. What did you do all day? (If you need more space, write in the Remarks section.) Developed Land for Commercial and Residential use. Subcontracted out all work to independent contractors. In this job, how many total hours each day did you: Walk? 1 hr. Kneel? (Bend legs to rest on knees.) 0 Stand? 0 Crouch? (Bend legs and back down & forward.) 0 Sit? 1 hr. Crawl? (Move on hands & knees.) 0 Climb? 0 Handle, grab or grasp big objects? 0 Stoop? (Bend down and forward at waist.) 0 Write, type or handle small objects? 2 hrs. Lifting and Carrying (Explain what you lifted, how far you carried it, and how often you did this.) did not really lift or carry anything. 43 On the next page under Remarks, Giddens stated: Real Estate Development was mainly an investment. We had no employees all work was subcontracted out. Giddens also responded no to the question of whether he supervised people in the development job. 44 As for the representations of Giddens's former attorney, Randall P. Harrison, this is what he stated in a September 5, 2001, letter to Equitable: 45 The real estate development was a passive investment for [Giddens] that was managed primarily by his wife. It required little physical activity as he did none of the physical work. The real estate development consisted of rental property and development of a subdivision. These investment activities occurred during a period from June, 1985 until October, 1998. As a result of the family relocating, his wife was not able to continue with the management of these investments which resulted in the sale of many of the assets. 46 During his deposition, Harrison explained that the phrase passive investment, as used in that letter, means a real estate investment where you own property but you're not managing it actively from day to day. . . . An example of that is when you have . . . acreage real estate that you're holding for investment purposes. 47 Harrison relied on Giddens's 1999 Social Security report as well as other communications from Giddens in devising the term passive investment. Harrison referenced that 1999 report and attached a copy of it to the September 5, 2001, letter. As we have already shown, in the report, Giddens indicated that he did not perform physical work, and he also characterized the occupation as mainly an investment. Giddens stated in the report, however, that he developed land for commercial and residential use, and he indicated that he use[d] technical knowledge or skills to do so. Giddens also said that he had to write reports or complete forms as part of his occupation. 48 Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Equitable, there is no evidentiary basis for concluding that the substantial and material duties of Giddens's real estate development occupation included any active management or physical work. Harrison's letter and the 1999 report to the Social Security Administration, however, show that his duties in this passive investment required him to use technical knowledge or skills. Thus, the type of passive investment in real estate development that had been his occupation requires expertise and knowledge in investing. It requires, at a minimum, the business savvy, brain power, and research skills to be able to distinguish a good investment from a bad one. Giddens owned his own real estate company, Oak Land & Development, Inc., and Equitable does not dispute that he was the brain, although not the brawn, behind that operation. 49 This definition of passive investment is consistent with Giddens's description during his deposition of his duties as including, in part: entrepreneurial vision and energy; planning real estate projects; selection of house plans and materials; selection of contractors; . . . supervis[ing] compliance with building and other regulatory codes; project scheduling; . . . work[ing] with banks, government agencies, and financial consultants as needed; calculating the feasibility of projects, reviewing sites, and planning for contingencies; and coordinat[ing] dealings with realtors and agents. 50 Giddens's uncontroverted medical evidence shows that he suffers from a host of physical conditions as well as mental impairments. Dr. Spivey identified Giddens's impairments as including chronic sleep disturbances which lead to chronic fatigue, poor coping abilities, chronic anxiety and depression, [and] short term memory loss. His medications cause cognitive problems including short-term memory loss, inability to concentrate or function, inability to sleep, and ongoing depression. Dr. Webster testified in her deposition that in addition to depression, Giddens has auditory and visual hallucinations and side effects to his medicine including forgetfulness and confusion. Equitable did not perform an independent medical evaluation of Giddens. The testimony of Drs. Spivey and Webster stands unrefuted. 51 The heart of Giddens's claim is that given his cognitive problems and physical ailments, he cannot perform the entrepreneurial, financial, planning, coordinating, and administrative duties of his real estate occupation. Giddens's medical evidence and his doctors' testimony established that he cannot perform most or the majority of those duties and thus cannot engage in his real estate occupation. We also agree with the district court's following assessment of Equitable's position: 52 . . . while placing inordinate emphasis on testimony that Dr. Giddens' engagement in real estate development did not involve physical labor, Equitable fails to appreciate the uncontradicted testimony of Dr. Giddens' physicians that his chronic fatigue, depression, anxiety, and short-term memory loss preclude Dr. Giddens from performing even the administrative duties attendant to that enterprise. 53 Giddens, 356 F.Supp.2d at 1329. The doctors testified that Giddens suffers from hallucinations, memory loss, forgetfulness, inability to concentrate and confusion, and Equitable did not present any medical evidence to the contrary. These symptoms obviously result in a diminished intellectual capacity, greatly hindering Giddens's ability to think and reason on a daily basis. As a result, he is no longer able to exercise the technical knowledge and skills that he identified as job duties in his sworn statement to the Social Security Administration. Accordingly, the district court did not err in this regard. 54