FEDERAL COURTS - CONFLICT BETWEEN THE FEDERAL DECLARATORY JUDGMENTS ACT AND THE JOHNSON ACT

Authors

Spencer E. Irons, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

Plaintiff gas company contracted with defendant city to furnish gas from a certain field at rates fixed by ordinance. Plaintiff reserved the right, when this field became insufficient, to furnish gas from other fields at rates to be adjusted in accordance with the increased cost. In a suit in the federal district court for a declaratory judgment, plaintiff sought a determination that the local field had become insufficient, and that it was necessary to furnish gas from other fields. Plaintiff alleged that defendant city refused to recognize the changed conditions and insisted that plaintiff continue to furnish gas at the old rates. Held, the Federal Declaratory Judgments Act gave the district court power to give declaratory relief, and the Johnson Act did not deprive the court of jurisdiction to hear this dispute. Mississippi Power & Light Co. v. City of Jackson, (C. C. A. 5th, 1941) 116 F. (2d) 924; cert. denied, City of Jackson v. Mississippi Power & Light Co., 3I2 U.S. 698, 6I S. Ct. 741 (1941).

Recommended Citation

Spencer E. Irons, FEDERAL COURTS - CONFLICT BETWEEN THE FEDERAL DECLARATORY JUDGMENTS ACT AND THE JOHNSON ACT, 40 Mich. L. Rev. 123 (1941).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol40/iss1/17