Cooperman v. MacNeil

The central question presented by this appeal is whether the superior court had jurisdiction to grant possessory relief to a lessor, the Exeter-Lafayette Trust, where the lessee, Gerald C. MacNeil, failed to make certain rent payments required by the terms of the parties’ lease.

In November 1981, the plaintiff lessor brought an action in superior court against the defendant lessee and its sublessee, the defendant Pizza Hut of America, Inc., by writ containing three counts. Two of the counts were possessory in nature; the first was a plea of ejectment, and the second was a plea of entry. In…