Facts
A. operated a mechanical workshop as a self-employed person from 1 November 1984 without joining a pension fund. Due to a brain tumour, he was granted a half-disability pension from the Disability Insurance (AI) from 1 April 1989. Since 1 January 1994, A. has been employed in a garage and affiliated to the Retraites Populaires under the mandatory occupational pension scheme. Following a worsening of his illness, he became fully disabled as of 9 May 1994 and requested the Retraites Populaires to pay him a disability pension. The institution refused, on the grounds that the insured event had occurred prior to the affiliation.Considerations
The Cantonal Court dismissed A.'s claim on the grounds that, in accordance with case law, when the incapacity for work leading to disability occurred before affiliation to the pension fund, the latter is not obliged to pay disability benefits. This principle applies even in the absence of any prior pension relationship, as the legal system aims to distinguish the risks insured by a given institution from those that are not.
Thus, the Federal Tribunal ruled that the appellant, not being insured at the time of the occurrence of the incapacity for work leading to his disability, cannot claim disability benefits from the mandatory occupational pension scheme. This…