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THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

___________________________

Rockingham

No. 2004-314

David A. Pope and Suzanne M. Pope, Individually and as Trustees of the david a. pope 1990 revocable trust and the woodie 1990 revocable trust 

v. 

Nancy Moran Lee

Argued: February 16, 2005

Opinion Issued: June 3, 2005

Flagg Law, PLLC, of Portsmouth (Jonathan M. Flagg on the brief and orally), for the plaintiffs.

Taylor & Keane, P.C., of Portsmouth (Thomas M. Keane and Douglas W. Macdonald on the brief, and Mr. Keane orally), for the defendant.

Broderick, C.J. The defendant, Nancy Moran Lee, appeals an order of the Superior Court (Coffey, J.) ruling that because a 1998 lease agreement between herself and the plaintiffs, David A. Pope and Suzanne M. Pope, individually and as trustees of the David A. Pope 1990 Revocable Trust and the Woodie 1990 Revocable Trust, did not confer upon her the right to perpetual renewals of the lease, she was a tenant at will. We issued an opinion, on April 8, 2005, reversing the superior court. The plaintiffs filed a motion for reconsideration. We granted that motion in part, and withdrew our original opinion. We now reverse.

The following facts were found by the trial court or appear in the record. The plaintiffs own a seasonal ice cream and food service establishment located in North Hampton and known as the "Beach Plum Ice Cream Shop." The defendant leased the premises from 1993 to 1997 under several different annual lease agreements, most of which contained virtually identical terms, and the last three of which ran for eight-month terms starting in May and ending in December. Between 1993 and 1997, the plaintiffs, on several occasions, unsuccessfully applied for a variance to expand the food menu offered on the premises. See Pope v. Little Boar