Conforti v. City of Manchester
New Hampshire Supreme Court
677 A.2d 147 (1996)
- Written by Galina Abdel Aziz , JD
Facts
The Empire Theater (the theater) was located in Manchester, New Hampshire (the city) (defendant). The theater was owned by Andrew Conforti (plaintiff), who leased the theater to Orion Theatre, Inc. (Orion), which subleased it to Robert Howe. The theater was located in a B-1 zoning district, which did not permit the use of property for movie theaters. However, the use of the theater to show movies was recognized by the city as a preexisting nonconforming use. Following renovations to the theater in 1990, Howe began to host live concerts at the theater. The city notified Howe that using the theater for anything besides showing movies violated the city’s zoning ordinance. Conforti appealed the decision to the Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA). The ZBA denied Conforti’s appeal, and Conforti appealed to the New Hampshire state superior court. Orion and Howe intervened and joined the litigation. The evidence before the trial court indicated that the B-1 zoning ordinance was adopted in 1965 and that the theater was being used at that time only for showing movies. The city’s deputy building commissioner testified that in the city’s view, neither movie theaters nor live entertainment were allowed in a B-1 zoning district. The trial court upheld the ZBA’s decision, concluding that the city ordinance prohibited live entertainment on the property and that holding live entertainment at the theater was an impermissible expansion of the preexisting nonconforming use. Conforti, Orion, and Howe appealed to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Horton, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 814,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
