FLATHEAD-LOLO-BITTERROOT CITIZEN TASK FORCE V. STATE OF MONTANA, No. 23-3754 (9th Cir. 2024)
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The case involves a dispute over Montana's laws authorizing recreational wolf and coyote trapping and snaring. The plaintiffs, Flathead-Lolo-Bitterroot Citizen Task Force and WildEarth Guardians, alleged that these laws allowed the unlawful "take" of grizzly bears, a threatened species, in violation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The district court granted the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction, limiting wolf trapping and snaring in certain parts of Montana to a specific period in 2024.
The defendants, the State of Montana, the Chair of the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission, and the Governor, appealed the decision. They argued that the district court had erred by considering new arguments and materials submitted with the plaintiffs' reply brief, by applying the wrong preliminary injunction standard, and by finding a reasonably certain threat of imminent harm to grizzly bears.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's decision in part and vacated it in part. The court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion by considering new arguments and materials, as the defendants had an opportunity to respond. The court also held that the district court applied the correct preliminary injunction standard and did not abuse its discretion in finding serious questions going to the merits of the plaintiffs' claim.
However, the court found that the injunction was geographically overbroad and remanded the case for the district court to reconsider the geographic scope. The court also held that the injunction was overbroad because it prevented the State of Montana from trapping and snaring wolves for research. The court vacated that part of the injunction and remanded the case for the district court to make proper modifications to the scope of its order.
Court Description: Environmental Law / Preliminary Injunction In an action brought under the Endangered Species Act, the panel affirmed in part and vacated in part the district court’s preliminary injunction limiting wolf trapping and snaring in certain parts of Montana to January 1, 2024, through February 15, 2024, and remanded.
Plaintiffs alleged that Montana’s laws authorizing recreational wolf and coyote trapping and snaring, including regulations approved by the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission, allowed the unlawful “take” of grizzly bears, a threatened species, in violation of § 9 of the Endangered Species Act. The district court granted plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction as to wolf trapping and snaring only.
The panel held that the district court did not abuse its discretion by considering new arguments and new materials, submitted with plaintiffs’ reply brief in support of their motion for a preliminary injunction, because the record showed that defendants had an opportunity to respond to plaintiffs’ submissions. The panel held that the district court applied the proper preliminary injunction standard by requiring plaintiffs to show only a serious question going to the merits instead of a likelihood of success on the merits. Because plaintiffs sought a preliminary injunction under the Endangered Species Act, the last two factors of the “serious questions” test—balance of hardships and the public interest—tipped sharply in favor of the protected species. Plaintiffs were required to demonstrate that they presented serious questions as to the merits of their claim and that absent an injunction, irreparable harm was likely.
The panel held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in finding that there were serious questions going to the merits of plaintiffs’ claim that Montana’s 2023 recreational wolf trapping and snaring regulations would cause the unlawful take of grizzly bears in violation of § 9 of the Endangered Species Act. Fairly read, the record reflects a genuine scientific and factual debate over this question.
Reviewing deferentially, the panel also affirmed the district court’s finding of a reasonably certain threat of imminent harm to grizzly bears had Montana’s wolf trapping and snaring season proceeded as planned.
Addressing the scope of the preliminary injunction, the panel affirmed the temporal scope of the injunction, but held that the injunction was geographically overbroad, and remanded for the district court to expeditiously reconsider the geographic scope. The panel also held that the injunction was overbroad because it prevents the State of Montana from trapping and snaring wolves for research, vacated that part of the injunction, and remanded for the district court to make proper modifications to the scope of its order.
Concurring in part and dissenting in part, Judge Tallman would vacate the district court’s preliminary injunction in toto. He concurred in the majority’s decision to remand the district court’s preliminary injunction as geographically overbroad and not sufficiently clear in preventing any takings so as to accommodate the State of Montana’s necessary scientific research activities. He dissented from the majority’s conclusion that plaintiffs established a reasonably certain threat of imminent harm to the increasing grizzly bear population through scientifically driven wolf trapping regulations sufficient to warrant a preliminary injunction.
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