Marseilles Hydro Power, LLC v. Marseilles Land and Water Company
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
299 F.3d 643 (7th Cir. 2002)
Marseilles Hydro Power, LLC (plaintiff) had a contract to rent a canal from Marseilles Land and Water Company (defendant) to supply water to its power plant. After the plant fell into disuse and the arrangement lapsed, the power company sought to resume operations and asked the canal company to repair a canal wall; when the canal company refused and the wall then collapsed, the power company sued seeking an injunction to access the property for repairs, a lien against the canal company's property, and a declaratory judgment that it owed no rent for an unmaintained canal. The canal company counterclaimed for the rent and, within ten days of that counterclaim, demanded a jury trial, which the district court denied on the theory that the ten-day clock had run from the power company's original complaint. The court ruled for the power company, and the canal company appealed.
Whether the right to a jury trial arises when a party's claim seeks only equitable and declaratory relief, even if that claim may later give rise to a claim for legal relief.