TENANT FARMERS caught up in the legal repercussions of the Salvesen Riddell court case have scored a partial victory in their own court case against the Scottish government, with the Court of Session ruling that they should receive 'some' compensation for the loss of their farms.

Lord Clark ruled in favour of the principle that the current ScotGov administration had some responsibility to make amends for the impact of defective legislation passed by a previous administration. But he rejected the tenants’ claims based on the value of the tenancy, saying that compensation should be paid in respect of direct losses sustained by the tenants and “for frustration and inconvenience”.

Lord Clark also pointed out the case had been brought to establish the principle of whether or not the tenants were entitled to compensation – and as a consequence he was not in a position to quantify the scale of that compensation.

Commenting on the ruling, Scottish Tenant Farmers Association director Angus McCall said: “This is an incredibly complex case and it will take some time for the tenants’ legal team to evaluate Lord Clark’s ruling. What has been made clear, however, is that the tenants are due some compensation for the harm caused to them by the flawed legislation instigated by the Liberal/Labour coalition and passed by the Scottish parliament 14 years ago.

"The compensation due will obviously be assessed on a case by case basis and should reflect specific losses sustained by the tenants combined with a sum to compensate for the stress and heartache caused since the Remedial Order," said Mr McCall.

"Unfortunately Lord Clark makes no mention of the unnecessary suffering caused by the mishandling of the mediation process which never got underway until it was too late," he added. "If mediation had been available in the immediate aftermath of the remedial Order, when it should have been, it is highly likely that some landlords and tenants would been able to reach agreement, with the government stepping in to assist where agreement was not going to be forthcoming."

Mr McCall noted that, in his summing up, Lord Clark had reserved opinion on “… whether the application of those principles will or will not give rise to a sum being due to the qualifying general partners," and suggested that this would have to be decided by a further stage of legal action.

"The time must now be ripe for the Scottish Government and the affected tenants to engage in mediation and reach a mutually agreeable settlement which will take away the need to spend yet more time and money in litigation where the only beneficiaries will be the legal profession," he said.

"The Courts have established the extent of the government’s liability towards the tenants, and there is no legal impediment to talking to the tenants – so let’s just get on and settle the matter and let the victims of this long running and tragic saga get on with their lives."