UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT DECISIONS ON-LINE

EVERS V. DWYER, 358 U. S. 202 (1958)

358 U. S. 202

U.S. Supreme Court

Evers v. Dwyer, 358 U.S. 202 (1958)

Evers v. Dwyer

No. 382

Decided December 15, 1958

358 U.S. 202

Syllabus

A Negro resident of Memphis, Tenn., brought this class action in a Federal District Court against officials of the City of Memphis, the local street railway company, and one of that company's employees, seeking a declaratory judgment as to his claimed constitutional right, and that of others similarly situated, to travel on buses within the City without being subjected, as required by a Tennessee statute, to segregated seating arrangements on account of race. The District Court dismissed the complaint on the ground that no "actual controversy," within the meaning of the Declaratory Judgment Act, had been shown, because appellant had ridden a bus in Memphis on only one occasion, had done so for the purpose of instituting this litigation, and was not "representative of a class of colored citizens who do use the buses in Memphis as a means of transportation."

Held: the record in this case establishes the existence of an actual controversy which should have been adjudicated by the District Court. Pp. 358 U. S. 202-204.

Reversed, and case remanded for further proceedings.


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