Opinion ID: 1865168
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 22

Heading: Continuation of Controversy

Text: Lastly, in this regard, the defendants assert that declaratory relief is not appropriate because the district court would be involved in the ongoing administration of the [system] for a very long time as members of the class were identified, claims heard and determined on a case by case basis, and arrangements for payments made. Brief for appellee Seward County at 9-10. In addition to the requirement that a justiciable issue must be presented for declaratory relief, a court should enter a declaratory judgment only where such judgment would terminate or resolve the controversy between the parties. Omaha Pub. Power Dist. v. Nuclear Elec. Ins. Ltd., 229 Neb. 740, 428 N.W.2d 895 (1988); VisionQuest, Inc. v. State, 222 Neb. 228, 383 N.W.2d 22 (1986); Beatrice Manor v. Department of Health, 219 Neb. 141, 362 N.W.2d 45 (1985); § 25-21,154. The court must make a full and complete declaration, and where it will be necessary to bring another action or proceeding to settle the controversy, declaratory judgment will not be granted. Graham v. Beauchamp, 154 Neb. 889, 50 N.W.2d 104 (1951); Dobson v. Ocean Accident & Guarantee Corporation, 124 Neb. 652, 247 N.W. 789 (1933). It is true, as first detailed in part III, that a county employee is not entitled to benefits under the retirement act until he or she has retired after attaining the age of 55 or is disabled, or until after the employee reaches the age of 65 if he or she is terminated; only then are the county contributions which have been made to the employer account paid to the employee. Nonetheless, not only is the amount of contributions to be made by the counties set by statute, the statutes define the persons on whose behalf the contributions are to be made, § 23-2306, and set forth as well the amount of employee compensation which forms the basis for contributions, § 23-2330. Thus, the situation is not like that in Millard School Dist. v. State Department of Education, 202 Neb. 707, 277 N.W.2d 71 (1979), in which the claim was primarily one for money. Here, the primary focus is on the construction of the retirement act, the prayer for money being only incidental to the interpretation of the act. Moreover, the fact that the court may need to grant further relief after entering a declaratory judgment does not make a case unsuitable for declaratory relief. As we said in First Nat. Bank v. Omaha Nat. Bank, 191 Neb. 249, 214 N.W.2d 483 (1974), the court which has entered a judgment declaring the rights of the parties under contract has the power to retain jurisdiction and grant further relief, which contemplates necessary supervision of such contracts and entry of supplemental judgments and orders from time to time. The declaratory judgment statutes are remedial; their purpose is to settle and to afford relief from uncertainty and insecurity with respect to rights, status, and other legal relations, and they are to be liberally construed and administered. § 25-21,160. See Berigan Bros. v. Growers Cattle Credit Corp., 182 Neb. 656, 156 N.W.2d 794 (1968). Hoiengs has therefore pled a declaratory judgment action on his own behalf.