Opinion ID: 3217620
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Modification of the Injunction

Text: It is possible that changing or newly revealed facts or circumstances will affect the fairness or efficacy of an injunction. In the case before us, the district court has ordered that many of WSDOT’s high-priority barrier culverts be corrected over the course of seventeen years, and that the remainder be corrected only at the end of the culvert’s natural life or when road work undertaken for independent reasons UNITED STATES V. WASHINGTON 59 would in any event require replacement of the culvert. It is possible that, during this extended period, changed or newly revealed facts or circumstances will justify a modification of the injunction. The district court should not hesitate to modify its injunction if this proves to be the case. As the Supreme Court wrote in System Federation No. 91 v. Wright, 364 U.S. 642, 647 (1961), “a sound judicial discretion may call for the modification of the terms of an injunctive decree if the circumstances, whether of law or fact, obtaining at the time of its issuance have changed, or new ones have since arisen.” See also Rufo v. Inmates of Suffolk Cnty. Jail, 502 U.S. 367, 380–81 (1992). In affirming the judgment entered by the district court in this case, we emphasize that the flexibility inherent in equity jurisdiction allows the court, if changed or newly revealed facts or circumstances warrant, to modify its injunction accordingly.