Comeau v. Vergato

823 A.2d 764, 149 N.H. 508, 2003 N.H. LEXIS 74
CourtSupreme Court of New Hampshire
DecidedMay 16, 2003
DocketNo. 2002-413
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 823 A.2d 764 (Comeau v. Vergato) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of New Hampshire primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Comeau v. Vergato, 823 A.2d 764, 149 N.H. 508, 2003 N.H. LEXIS 74 (N.H. 2003).

Opinion

Duggan, J.

The defendant, Jerry Vergato, appeals a ruling of the Milford District Court (Ryan, J.) ordering him to pay damages for violating RSA 540-A:3 (Supp. 2002) by entering a camper owned by the plaintiff, Rachel Comeau, and taking her property. The defendant argues that he and the plaintiff did not have a landlord-tenant relationship as [509]*509defined in RSA 540-A:l (1997). He also argues that the statute governing campgrounds, RSA ch. 216-1 (2000 & Supp. 2002), supersedes RSA 540-A:3. We reverse and remand.

In its temporary order and order on the motion for reconsideration, the trial court found the following facts. The defendant is a campground owner who rents spaces, equipped with utilities, to campers on a year-round basis. The plaintiff rented space and lived on the defendant’s property from March 2001 through January 2002. The court described the plaintiffs living unit as both a “camper” and a “trailer.”

On February 3, 2002, allegedly because the plaintiff owed back rent, the defendant’s son, Stephen Vergato, and an employee entered the plaintiffs camper and removed some of the plaintiffs property. Stephen Vergato also placed a “For Sale” sign on the plaintiffs camper.

On February 20,2002, the plaintiff filed a petition with the district court requesting the return of her property and damages. She argued that the defendant was a “landlord” under RSA 540-A:l, and thus subject to RSA 540-A:3, III (Supp. 2002), which prohibits a landlord from “willfully seiz[ing3, holdping] or otherwise directly or indirectly denying] a tenant access to and possession of such tenant’s property, other than by proper judicial process.” The court agreed that the defendant had violated RSA 540-A:3, and issued a temporary order directing the defendant to return the plaintiffs property. It later awarded the plaintiff damages of $1,000 for each day the defendant failed to return the plaintiffs property, assessing a total award of $23,000 plus costs. See RSA 540-A:4, IX (1997); RSA 358-A:10,1 (1995).

The defendant filed a motion for reconsideration, arguing that the plaintiff was not a tenant and he was not a landlord under RSA 540-A:l. He also argued that RSA chapter 216-1, which governs recreational campgrounds and camping grounds, preempts application of RSA 540-A:3. The court replied:

While it may have been the stated intention of the defendant to have people rent spaces at his campground on a temporary basis and only for recreational purposes, the reality is that he knowingly allowed people, the plaintiff included, to live in their campers on a year round basis. [RSA 540-A:l, I] defines “Landlord” as meaning “an owner, lessor or agent thereof who rents or leases residential premises ... to another person.” ... No definition is given to the word “residential” in the statute. Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary [defines residence] as “the act or fact of dwelling in a place for some time.” The plaintiff lived at the campground from March of 2001 to February of 2002____ [510]*510Living at the same place for 11 months is not a temporary situation. Certainly the plaintiff was not living at the campground for 11 months including the winter months, for recreational purposes.

The court thus affirmed its finding that there was a landlord-tenant relationship,. and denied the motion for reconsideration. On appeal, the defendant raises the same issues in this court.

We note at the outset that we do not have a transcript of the district court proceedings. The moving party has the burden of providing an adequate record. See Rix v. Kinderworks Corp., 136 N.H. 548, 553 (1992). “Because the defendant[] failed to provide this court with a record and transcript of the hearing, we assume that the evidence was sufficient to support the result reached by the trial court. Accordingly, we review the court’s order for errors of law only.” Atwood v. Owens, 142 N.H. 396, 396 (1997).

The defendant first argues that he was not a “landlord” under RSA 540-A:l. The statute reads:

• I. “Landlord” means an owner, lessor or agent thereof who rents or leases residential premises including manufactured housing or space in a manufactured housing park to another person.
II. “Tenant” means a person to whom a landlord rents or leases residential premises, including manufactured housing or a space in a manufactured housing park.
III. “Premises” means the part of the landlord’s property to which the tenant is entitled exclusive access for living or storage as a result of the rental or lease agreement.

To determine whether the defendant was a landlord, we must decide whether the plaintiffs premises were “residential” within the meaning of the statute. “In matters of statutory interpretation, this court is the final arbiter of the intent of the legislature as expressed in the words of a statute considered as a whole.” State v. Amerigas Propane, 146 N.H. 267, 269 (2001). Although we look to the plain and ordinary meaning of the statutory language in determining legislative intent, we will not read words or phrases in isolation, but in the context of the entire statute. See id.

The trial court’s analysis focused exclusively on the word “residential” and applied a dictionary definition of “residence” to determine legislative intent. This definition — “the act or fact of dwelling in a place for some time” — involves only the duration of the presumed tenancy, and does not [511]*511consider the physical attributes of the premises. For example, under the trial court’s definition, a renter could establish a landlord-tenant relationship merely by paying a fee to pitch a tent on undeveloped land, and living there for a certain period of time.

Read as a whole, the statute does not support the trial court’s construction. Specifically, the trial court overlooked the last clause of the definition for both “landlord” and “tenant,” which states that “residential premises” includes “manufactured housing or space in a manufactured housing park.” RSA 540-A:l. The inclusion of this phrase indicates that the legislature considered the form of the housing relevant in determining whether it is “residential.” If the legislature intended the duration of the stay to be sufficient to establish a residence, it would be superfluous to include a specific form of housing within the ambit of the statute. See Pennelli v. Town of Pelham, 148 N.H. 365, 367-68 (2002) (“the legislature is presumed not to have used superfluous or redundant words”). Thus, the mere fact that the plaintiff lived on the defendant’s property for a certain length of time did not establish a landlord-tenant relationship, and the trial court erred as a matter of law in ruling otherwise. See Atwood, 142 N.H. at 397, 399 (holding that RSA chapter 540-A does not apply if “the primary purpose for renting the structure is commercial,” even if renter actually lives on the property).

Moreover, the definitions of both “landlord” and “tenant” specifically mention only one type of residential premises — manufactured housing. See RSA 540-A: 1.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
823 A.2d 764, 149 N.H. 508, 2003 N.H. LEXIS 74, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/comeau-v-vergato-nh-2003.