13.9 Declaratory Judgments

• Library: Contract Law in Virginia (Virginia CLE) (2019 Ed.)

13.9 DECLARATORY JUDGMENTS

13.901 In General. Sections 8.01-184 through 8.01-191 of the Virginia Code provide a procedure for obtaining a declaration of rights under a contract where the parties have an actual dispute over the contract's meaning, application, or effect. The United States Code ⁴⁰⁹ creates a declaratory judgment remedy in disputes over which the federal courts have subject matter jurisdiction.

The purpose of a declaratory judgment proceeding is to determine the parties' stated rights under the contract, not to determine disputed factual issues. ⁴¹⁰ If the judgment will be determinative of disputed issues, as opposed to a declaration of stated rights under the contract, the case is not a proper one for declaratory judgment, and standard forms of legal or equitable relief should be pursued. ⁴¹¹ "[W]here claims and rights asserted have fully matured, and the alleged wrongs have already been suffered, a declaratory

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judgment proceeding, which is intended to permit the declaration of rights before they mature, is not an available remedy." ⁴¹² At the same time, a declaratory judgment cannot be used merely to request an advisory opinion or to seek a ruling on a merely theoretical question. ⁴¹³ Rather, there must be specific adverse claims and the plaintiff must have a justiciable interest in the dispute, for example, the plaintiff must identify a specific injury that it seeks to avoid or a specific right that will be affected by the court's decision. ⁴¹⁴

Courts should not permit a party to use declaratory judgment procedures to determine whether there has been a breach of contract, because to do so changes...