Zalobowski v. New England Teamsters & Trucking Industry Pension Fund

This is a pension-fund dispute that presents a question of first impression in this jurisdiction. In May 1972, the plaintiff, Joseph Zalobowski (Zalobowski), applied to the defendant, New England Teamsters and Trucking Industry Pension Fund (the fund), seeking a pension. According to Zalobowski’s computations, because he had been a member of the fund for twenty-four years, he was entitled to receive a monthly pension check that would amount to $425. The fund’s trustees, however, took the position that since Zalobowski had been an owner-operator for six years and seven months of his…