Adams v. Moose Hill Orchards, LLC

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THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

___________________________

Rockingham
Case No. 2023-0615
Citation: Adams v. Moose Hill Orchards, LLC, 2024 N.H. 58

CAROLINE ADAMS & a.

v.

MOOSE HILL ORCHARDS, LLC d/b/a MACK’S APPLES

Argued: April 30, 2024
Opinion Issued: October 11, 2024

Law Office of Manning Zimmerman & Oliveira, PLLC, of Manchester
(Anna Goulet Zimmerman on the brief and orally), for the plaintiffs.

Bouchard, Kleinman & Wright, P.A., of Manchester (Nicholas D. Wright
on the brief and orally), for the defendant.

MACDONALD, C.J.

¶1 Plaintiff Caroline Adams suffered an injury to her spinal cord while
sledding on property owned by the defendant, Moose Hill Orchards, LLC d/b/a
Mack’s Apples (Moose Hill). Adams and her husband, Christopher Estrella,
sued the defendant for negligence and loss of consortium. The plaintiffs appeal
an order of the Superior Court (Ruoff, J.) granting the defendant’s motion to
dismiss based on recreational use immunity under RSA 508:14, I (2010 &
Supp. 2023). We affirm.

I. Background

¶2 We assume the following facts, as alleged in the plaintiffs’ complaint,
to be true. In January 2022, the plaintiffs went to Moose Hill in Londonderry.
Moose Hill allows the public to use a hill on its property for sledding at no
charge. Moose Hill operates a seasonal stand “selling hot chocolate, hot cider,
and other goods to sledders.” While sledding, Adams suffered serious injury
and, as a result, is paralyzed from the waist down.

¶3 The plaintiffs commenced this action alleging negligence and seeking
damages, including for loss of consortium. The defendant moved to dismiss,
arguing in part that, as a landowner who makes its land available for
recreational use at no charge, it is entitled to immunity under RSA 508:14, I.
The trial court granted the defendant’s motion. The plaintiffs moved for
reconsideration, which the trial court denied. This appeal followed.

II. Analysis

¶4 On appeal, the plaintiffs argue that the trial court erred in
dismissing their claims as barred by RSA 508:14. They assert that recreational
immunity does not apply because they were on the defendant’s property “for a
purpose related to” the defendant’s business and for which the defendant
“customarily charges.” (Bolding omitted.) They also argue that “[t]he nexus
between [the defendant’s] business and the use of the sledding hill” makes RSA
508:14, I, “inapplicable.” (Bolding omitted.) The defendant counters that the
trial court “correctly dismissed the plaintiffs’ action as Moose Hill allowed the
general public to access its land without directly charging a fee for use of the
sledding hill.” (Capitalization and bolding omitted.) The defendant argues that
“[t]o the extent any business activity was occurring, it was incidental to the
recreational use of the land that was provided without charge.”

¶5 When reviewing a trial court’s grant of a motion to dismiss, we
consider whether the allegations in the plaintiffs’ pleadings are reasonably
susceptible of a construction that would permit recovery. Granite State Trade
Sch. v. N.H. Mechanical Licensing Bd., 175 N.H. 708, 710 (2023). We assume
the plaintiffs’ pleadings to be true and construe all reasonable inferences in the
light most favorable to the plaintiffs. Id. However, we need not assume the
truth of statements in the plaintiffs’ pleadings that are merely conclusions of
law. Id. We then engage in a threshold inquiry that tests the facts in the
complaint against the applicable law. Id. We will uphold the trial court’s grant
of a motion to dismiss if the facts pleaded do not constitute a basis for legal
relief. Id.

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 [¶6] Resolving the plaintiffs’ appeal requires that we engage in statutory
interpretation. We review the trial court’s statutory interpretation de novo. St.
Onge v. Oberten, LLC, 174 N.H. 393, 395 (2021). We first look to the language
of the statute itself, and, if possible, construe that language according to its
plain and ordinary meaning. Id. We give effect to every word of a statute
whenever possible and will not consider what the legislature might have said or
add language that the legislature did not see fit to include. Id. We also
construe all parts of a statute together to effectuate its overall purpose. Id.
However, we do not construe statutes in isolation; instead, we attempt to
construe them in harmony with the overall statutory scheme. Id.

¶7 RSA 508:14, I, provides:

An owner, occupant, or lessee of land, . . . who without charge
permits any person to use land for recreational purposes or as a
spectator of recreational activity, shall not be liable for personal
injury or property damage in the absence of intentionally caused
injury or damage.

¶8 This statute grants immunity from liability to landowners who
“without charge” permit “any person to use land for recreational purposes.” Id.
The central issue in this case is whether the defendant permitted recreational
use “without charge.” We conclude that it did. The “recreational use” is
sledding, and it is undisputed that the defendant permits sledding on its hill
without charge. By the statute’s plain terms, the defendant is immune from
the plaintiffs’ claims.

¶9 The plaintiffs argue that the statute does not apply because the
defendant’s “business of running a farm market” and “seasonal stand that
generated revenue” negates the statute’s “without charge” requirement. In
support, they rely on Soraghan v. Mt. Cranmore Ski Resort, 152 N.H. 399
(2005). In that case, the plaintiff sought recovery for injuries suffered while
attending a skiing competition. Soraghan, 152 N.H. at 400. We observed that
the core purpose of RSA 508:14, I, is to encourage public recreational use of
privately-owned land. Id. at 402. To effectuate that purpose, a private
landowner is entitled to recreational use immunity when the landowner
“allow[s] any person as a member of the general public to use [its] land” and
does so “without charge.” Id. at 403 (quotation omitted). In determining that
the ski resort did not qualify for recreational use immunity under RSA 508:14,
we explained that “it would not further the purpose of the statute to limit the
liability of a private landowner where an individual is on the premises for a
purpose related to the landowner’s business for which the landowner
customarily charges.” Id. Because the plaintiff was on the premises for that
purpose — even though she herself did not pay a fee — we held that the statute
did not apply. Id. at 401.

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 [¶10] The case before us is distinguishable from Soraghan. Unlike the
ski resort, the defendant does not charge the public for access to its hill for
sledding. Nor is the defendant “engaged in the business of recreational
activities for profit.” Id. at 401. Thus, the trial court correctly found that
“because access to the land for recreational purposes was always free to the
general public,” the defendant is immune from liability for the plaintiffs’
injuries.

¶11 The plaintiffs further argue that because the defendant’s sledding
hill “entice[s] potential customers to their property to purchase . . . products
from [its] farm market and seasonal stand,” the sledding hill is, therefore,
related to the defendant’s business. But there is no allegation — nor any
reasonable inference — that the defendant offers the use of its sledding hill as
part of its business. The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
addressed a similar argument in Hardy v. Loon Mountain Recreation Corp.,
276 F.3d 18 (1st Cir. 2002). There, the plaintiff visited the Loon Mountain ski
area in the summer. Hardy, 276 F.3d at 19. She paid a fee to ride Loon’s
gondola to the top. Id. Once there, the plaintiff partook in several free
activities. Id. On the way back to the gondola, the plaintiff sustained injuries
in a fall and subsequently sued the defendant for negligence. Id.

¶12 The First Circuit agreed with the trial court that RSA 508:14
conferred immunity upon the defendant. Id. at 20. The court rejected the
plaintiff’s argument that because she paid a fee for her use of the gondola,
there was a “charge” for her use of the land. Id. at 21 (quotation omitted). The
court reasoned that merely paying to ride the gondola was not the same as
paying for access to the recreation area at the top of the mountain. Id. Indeed,
the court noted, the plaintiff conceded that she “could have hiked to the
mountain’s summit for free.” Id.

¶13 We find this analysis persuasive. Here, similarly, the plaintiffs
could have used the sledding hill without purchasing an item from the farm
stand. The trial court found that “it is undisputed that the purchase of a hot
beverage was voluntary and not required for” the plaintiffs to access the
defendant’s land for sledding. As the court reasoned, if the plaintiffs “chose to
pay for a hot beverage, it would have been in exchange for the beverage, not for
access to the sledding hill itself.”

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 [¶14] Because access to the defendant’s land for recreational purposes
was without charge to the general public, RSA 508:14, I, applies. The trial
court correctly granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss.

Affirmed.

BASSETT, DONOVAN, and COUNTWAY, JJ., concurred; HANTZ
MARCONI, J., sat for oral argument but did not participate in the final vote.

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