The Muellers Sue The State of New Hampshire

Good day,

With the pending Snodgrass Mountain expansion on a lot of Crested Buttian’s minds, this article popped up on the newswire today. Tim and Diane Mueller, owners of Crested Butte Mountain, and Okemo and Sunapee ski areas in the Northeast US, have decided to take legal action against the State of New Hampshire claiming the State reneged on an agreement to consider ski area expansion at Mt. Sunapee.

Interesting timing on this one considering Crested Butte Mountain Resort’s plans to put up ski lifts and resort residences on Snodgrass. Snodgrass is located just across Gothic Road from the north side of the existing ski mountain here in Crested Butte.

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Channing Boucher
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ARTICLE EXCERPTS COURTESY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE UNION LEADER
CONCORD – The operators of Mount Sunapee ski area have filed suit against their landlord, the state of New Hampshire, saying it reneged on a promise to consider expansion of the ski area.

In the breach-of-contract suit, filed in Merrimack County Superior Court, Timothy and Diane Mueller, owners of The Sunapee Difference LLC, ask for the state to correct a leasehold description that would allow them to expand to the west, and/or pay compensatory damages.

"The state, through the governor, has reneged on its promise and obligations by refusing to even consider Sunapee’s proposed amendment to the lease and operating agreement," the filing in Merrimack County Superior Court says.

Colin Manning, spokesman for Gov. John Lynch, said yesterday the suit is "completely without merit."

"The state is under no obligation to lease additional state land to be used to help them develop and sell condos," Manning said.

He said the company’s interest is in selling slopeside lodging on land adjacent to the state park, and said that is contrary to statements made by Tim Mueller at the outset of the lease.

"They assured the public they would not develop" real estate, Manning said.

In a statement, Timothy Mueller, president of Mount Sunapee Resort, said he regretted "that we are forced to take this action, but the state of New Hampshire has repeatedly failed to respect the state law and the representations and inducements they made in leasing Mount Sunapee. They have failed to respect our contractual rights in the lease and operating agreement, and we believe both parties must respect the law and the contractual rights contained in our lease and operating agreement." READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE