Cite as: 532 U. S. 742 (2001)
Opinion of the Court
cess in a prior proceeding, a party's later inconsistent position introduces no "risk of inconsistent court determinations," United States v. C. I. T. Constr. Inc., 944 F. 2d 253, 259 (CA5 1991), and thus poses little threat to judicial integrity. See Hook, 195 F. 3d, at 306; Maharaj, 128 F. 3d, at 98; Konstantinidis, 626 F. 2d, at 939. A third consideration is whether the party seeking to assert an inconsistent position would derive an unfair advantage or impose an unfair detriment on the opposing party if not estopped. See Davis, 156 U. S., at 689; Philadelphia, W., & B. R. Co. v. Howard, 13 How. 307, 335-337 (1852); Scarano, 203 F. 2d, at 513 ( judicial estoppel forbids use of "intentional self-contradiction . . . as a means of obtaining unfair advantage"); see also 18 Wright § 4477, p. 782.
In enumerating these factors, we do not establish inflexible prerequisites or an exhaustive formula for determining the applicability of judicial estoppel. Additional considerations may inform the doctrine's application in specific factual contexts. In this case, we simply observe that the factors above firmly tip the balance of equities in favor of barring New Hampshire's present complaint.
New Hampshire's claim that the Piscataqua River boundary runs along the Maine shore is clearly inconsistent with its interpretation of the words "Middle of the River" during the 1970's litigation. As mentioned above, supra, at 747, interpretation of those words was "necessary" to fixing the northern endpoint of the lateral marine boundary, Report 43. New Hampshire offered two interpretations in the earlier proceeding—first agreeing with Maine in the proposed consent decree that "Middle of the River" means the middle of the main channel of navigation, and later agreeing with the Special Master that the words mean the geographic middle of the river. Both constructions located the "Middle of the River" somewhere other than the Maine shore of the Piscataqua River.
751
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