Boal

Plaintiff appeals from a judgment adverse to him in an action to recover alleged retirement benefits. We reverse.

Plaintiff had been a long term employee and, from July 1, 1957, until his resignation on June 30, 1969, a partner in defendant firm. At that date he was 53 years of age. The formal retirement plan of defendant provided retirement benefits for partners who had been in that status for 15 years and had attained the age of 60. The plan also provided that the firm’s executive committee could approve benefits at an earlier time. Plaintiff’s contention in this lawsuit was that the firm had, in fact, an established custom of approving earlier retirements with retirement rights to be effective on the retiring partner reaching the age of 60. The trial court found that there was no such custom and that, even if there were, plaintiff had not relied on it when he took early retirement.

I

Plaintiff here contends that he was improperly denied a jury trial. We agree and reverse the judgment on that ground.

Early in the pretrial stages plaintiff had properly given notice that he desired a trial by jury. However, when a second trial settlement conference was necessitated by…