Opinion ID: 710232
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Adversity of Interests

Text: 46 Parties' interests are adverse where harm will result if the declaratory judgment is not entered. Although the action cannot be based on a contingency, Id. at 647-648, the party seeking declaratory relief need not wait until the harm has actually occurred to bring the action. Armstrong World Industries, Inc. v. Adams, 961 F.2d at 412. Thus, in an appropriate circumstance, a litigant can seek a declaratory judgment where the harm is threatened in the future. However, the plaintiff must demonstrate that the probability of that future event occurring is real and substantial,  'of sufficient immediacy and reality to warrant the issuance of a declaratory judgment.'  Salvation Army v. Department of Community Affairs, 919 F.2d 183, 192 (3d Cir.1990) (quoting Steffel v. Thompson, 415 U.S. 452, 460, 94 S.Ct. 1209, 1216, 39 L.Ed.2d 505 (1974)). Accordingly, a party need not decide between attempting to meet the nearly insurmountable burden of establishing that the relevant injury is a mathematical certainty to occur, nor must a party await actual injury before filing suit. Erecting such barriers would eviscerate the Declaratory Judgment Act and render the relief it was intended to provide illusory. However, ripeness requires that the threat of future harm must remain real and immediate throughout the course of the litigation. Id. (quoting Steffel v. Thompson, 415 U.S. at 459 n. 10, 94 S.Ct. at 1215 n. 10). 47 Here, Travelers has taken the position that attendant care services are custodial in nature and that it therefore has no obligation under the No-Fault Act to pay for those services. Lisa, of course, contends otherwise. There is, therefore, a very real and immediate adversity of interests. This adversity is not negated merely because Travelers' own expert agrees that attendant care services are an absolute necessity, and that Lisa cannot do without them. That consideration is, however, relevant to the eventual resolution of the adversity of interests.