Opinion ID: 450762
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Inability of declaratory relief to foreclose all future disputes

Text: 66 A declaratory judgment on the environmental issue very likely would not resolve all of the questions concerning the scope of the parties' treaty rights and duties. That could be approached only if the judgment held that the treaty fishermen had no right to have the fishery protected and that the State had no duty to refrain from degradation. A judgment more responsive to the treaty fishermen's needs, by contrast, makes future litigation more than a remote possibility. For example, they may argue in a future case that the State has acted to degrade the fishery in violation of the treaty. 67 The inability of a declaratory judgment to foreclose all future disputes does not render the remedy inappropriate because uncertain in dimension, maj. op. at 1357. A declaratory judgment need not resolve all the issues in controversy, as long as it resolves a significant disputed issue. Harris v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co., 569 F.2d 850, 852 (5th Cir.1978); E. Borchard, supra, at 298; J. Moore, 6A Moore's Federal Practice Sec. 57.08, at 57-46 to 57-47 (1983). The Declaratory Judgment Act explicitly recognizes this possibility when it authorizes the use of a declaratory judgment whether or not further relief is or could be sought. 28 U.S.C. Sec. 2201. Indeed, in most declaratory judgment actions, as in this case, the declaratory judgment would terminate or sharply reduce the possibility of further litigation only if it were decided in favor of one party, but would leave certain issues unresolved were the opposite result reached. 68 Further, declaratory judgments may appropriately resolve only the existence of certain rights (e.g., the right to have the fishery protected from environmental degradation) claimed by the plaintiffs. See, e.g., United States v. Adair, 723 F.2d 1394 (9th Cir.) (dispute over water rights), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. 3536, 82 L.Ed.2d 841 (1984); Kimball v. Callahan, 493 F.2d 564 (9th Cir.) (dispute over Indians' right to hunt, fish and trap on ancestral reservation without state regulation), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 1019, 95 S.Ct. 491, 42 L.Ed.2d 292 (1974); Crain v. First National Bank, 324 F.2d 532 (9th Cir.1963) (dispute over applicability of Klamath Termination Act's private trust provisions); Maison v. Confederated Tribes, 314 F.2d 169 (9th Cir.) (dispute over Indians' right to fish without state regulation under treaties involved in instant case), cert. denied, 375 U.S. 829, 84 S.Ct. 73, 11 L.Ed.2d 60 (1963).