Vancouver businessman Bruce Scott is suing the owners of the Fort Nelson Hotel because they’re not paying him to lease equipment that he claims is his.
Scott was general manager of the northern B.C. hotel between August 2006 and December 2011.
During much of that time he had a sideline job as a principal at 624842 B.C. Ltd.
Scott states in his January 27 statement of claim that he personally bought sound and video equipment worth about $60,000 and then had 624842 B.C. Ltd. lease it to the Fort Nelson Hotel for $3,500 per month plus taxes.
The hotel suffered financially and was sold as part of a foreclosure process. Scott showed the hotel to Kelowna businessman Byron Loewen, whose Loewen Resort Management Ltd. and 921477 B.C. Ltd. would later buy the hotel.
At the time, Scott allegedly made it clear that he personally owned the sound and video equipment. Scott contends that Loewen agreed that, if he bought the hotel, he would similarly pay $3,500 per month in lease payments to use the equipment.
Loewen denies that claim.
Both Loewen and Scott agree that after the hotel was sold, Loewen paid no lease payments.
Loewen said in his response to the civil claim that Scott could offer no documentation to prove that he owned the equipment.
Conversely, some of the receipts that Scott showed Loewen, Loewen contends, show that the equipment was bought by the Fort Nelson Hotel Ltd.
“Based on $3,500 per month since 2007, the Fort Nelson Hotel has paid the plaintiff approximately $210,000 on account of rental of equipment, much of which may have been purchased by the Fort Nelson Hotel operations,” Loewen said in his response to the civil claim.
Loewen points to his vesting order, which states that he owns the hotel and all of its contents unless there are documents to show that someone else owns any of the hotel’s contents.
