The owner of Rossview Farm, the popular Christmas tree business in West Concord that has sat shuttered for two winters, can continue leasing the land from his parents despite their insistence that he stop, a judge has ruled, ending one chapter in a yearslong family feud.

In an order signed Thursday, Judge Richard McNamara of Merrimack County Superior Court said Don Ross has a right to both lease the land and manage its perennial crops, which include blueberries and strawberries. The decision also establishes that Ross owns nearly all of the 8,100 Christmas trees, a previous point of contention.

The 600-acre farm on District 5 Road shut down in 2014 after a legal dispute erupted between Ross and his parents, Wayne and Ruth Ross. The couple had moved to evict their son in late 2013, claiming he never paid the $21,000 he owed them as part of a lease agreement. A lawsuit followed, which went to trial in February.

In his ruling, McNamara found that Don Ross did pay rent until 2011, and that both sides agreed then that it was no longer needed.

The elder Rosses essentially retired from farming in the mid-2000s and sold a conservation easement on the property in 2007 for $2.6 million. Don Ross took over the operation, with his parents’ support. They transferred the trees to him, as well as the equipment and their stake in the business.

“Wayne occasionally worked on the farm as an employee after (Don) took over the business because he enjoyed doing the work,” McNamara wrote, explaining the arrangement. “(Don) expended considerable time and expense between 2004 and 2013 to install drainage and underground irrigation, plant and maintain Christmas trees, plant more blueberry bushes, and otherwise run the farm. He received all the income from the farm and paid all the farm’s expenses.”

In a stewardship plan drafted in 2006, the elder Rosses said they planned for their son to “take on management after they retire.”

At issue in the case was the terms of the lease, which was initially just a verbal agreement between the two sides. A written pact was eventually signed in 2006, but it was brief and ambiguous about its duration. Ruth and Wayne Ross argued it was only for one year; Don Ross claimed it was meant to last until they died.

McNamara said both sides had clearly intended it to extend until the elder Rosses’ deaths, at which point the land would be transferred to Don Ross. He further disputed the parents’ separate claims that Don Ross had violated the agreement by engaging in repeated physical abuse. McNamara described one incident, in 2010, as Don “hugging Wayne during a period of Wayne’s anger,” and said in another that Don “supposedly struck strawberries out of Wayne’s hands.”

None of the altercations constitute grounds for a lease termination, McNamara said.

Thursday’s ruling can be appealed, but Don Ross’s attorney, Peter Callaghan, said even if that does happen, it’s not likely the trees will go unharvested for another season. Don Ross and others have been caring for them throughout the lawsuit, he said. Some are nearly 20 years old, according to court documents.

“Don is happy that this dispute has come to an end, and he looks forward to resuming the farm life and running the business,” Callaghan said, adding that Ross would not be commenting.

Both Wayne Ross and his attorney, John Bisson, declined to comment. They each said they had yet to review the order.

The decision means Don Ross can continue leasing the land for free but does not establish what will happen to it when the elder Rosses die. Under the 2007 preservation agreement, the property will remain a working farm and can’t be sold for other ventures.

The farm, listed on the state register of historic places, dates to 1957 and incorporates three early West Concord farms. It was established by Wayne Ross, who raised beef cattle and produced milk until 1980, when he began transitioning to berries, pumpkins, syrup and Christmas trees. Don Ross, a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, returned to the operation in 1999.

(Jeremy Blackman can be reached at 369-3319, jblackman@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @JBlackmanCM.)

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