A north businessman who took his bank to court over a contested loan guarantee worth nearly £1million has lost his case.
John Sutherland’s long-running legal battle stems from when he ploughed money into creating an abattoir and meat-processing site at Keiss, near Wick.
He had ambitious plans for which he sought the bank’s support.
These including the introduction of a Japanese cattle breed to produce wagyu beef, which is highly-prized throughout the world with diners in top restaurants paying premium prices for the heavily-marbled steaks.
But the whole abattoir enterprise crashed into administration in April 2011, leaving debts totalling nearly £5million – more than £4million of which was due to Mr Sutherland and his other businesses.
He accused Bank of Scotland of renaging on funding agreements, claiming these fell well short of what was promised towards the cost of building the new abattoir.
Mr Sutherland also claimed the bank failed to keep its promise to provide £2million for stock and start-up costs.
In late 2012, the bank wrote to him demanding £950,000 for a loan guarantee.
He took his grievance to the Court of Session in Edinburgh, where he sought either a reduction of the guarantee and of a charge for payment served on May 14, 2013, or alternately damages of £964,220,63.
Finding in favour of the bank and rejecting documentary evidence supplied by Mr Sutherland, Lord Tyre said there was “no misrepresentation” by the lender and Mr Sutherland’s claims were not supported by the facts.
Mr Sutherland, a butcher by trade, told the Press and Journal yesterday he was fighting a “lot of battles” against the bank.
He added: “I might have lost this one but my main aim is to win the war”.
Bank of Scotland declined to comment.
The recently ended court case is unconnected to the quarrying business Mr Sutherland runs from Wick, Caithness Flagstone, which he said was thriving just now.
Last year, he was forced to deny reports that it too had collapsed after a shell company he ran went into administration.
He told the P&J at the time his quarrying enterprise was cash-rich, with no banking facilities and an order book worth up to £2million.
Under its old name, Caithness Stone, the business supplied materials for the Scottish Parliament building and Aberdeen University’s new library.
It also supplied stone for a memorial garden at Ground Zero, the site of the 9/11 terror attack in New York.