A community charity in the Outer Hebrides says it was pushed to the brink of financial collapse after being wrongly dragged into a legal dispute involving the daughter of M*A*S*H actress Sally Kellerman and a row over access for her dog at a local cafe.
Claire Kellerman, 62, who was born in the US and whose late aunt and adoptive mother played Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan in the original 1970s M*A*S*H film, brought the taxpayer-funded action against Great Bernera Community Development Trust (GBCDT).
Ms Kellerman, whose presence on the small island of Great Bernera has reportedly divided opinion locally, sought to take legal action after a community cafe allegedly refused entry to her dog, which she maintains is a service animal.
However, solicitors acting on her behalf served the legal papers on GBCDT rather than Bernera Community Association, the separate volunteer-led body responsible for the cafe’s day-to-day operation.
GBCDT, a non-profit organisation created to support the island’s economic and social wellbeing, has now told Our News Outlet it was left in a precarious financial position after spending thousands of pounds defending a claim it says should never have been directed at it. The action was eventually withdrawn before reaching a hearing.
Ms Kellerman is understood to have been barred from the premises following complaints about her conduct, with local people accusing her of “bullying” cafe staff. She later pursued legal action alleging volunteers had denied access to her service dog.
GBCDT director Mark Bryant told the Mail that the charity was served with a writ in error despite repeated attempts by board members to contact both Ms Kellerman and her legal representatives to point out the mistake.
Mr Bryant said the Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) was also notified of the alleged error before it approved funding for Ms Kellerman’s case, but that the board proceeded to support the action regardless.
Actress Sally Kellerman and her niece and adoptive daughter Claire Kellerman pictured together in 1999
Ms Kellerman, who arrived in Lewis around four years ago, is suing a community cafe on the island of Great Bernera (pictured)
GBCDT is completely separate from the island’s community cafe and has no role whatsoever in its running or organisation.
But after emails and phone calls went unanswered, the non-profit had to spend some £7,000 on lawyers of their own before those acting for Ms Kellerman finally admitted their mistake.
‘The cafe and the community centre have nothing to do with our business. We’re baffled by their [Ms Kellerman’s legal firm’s] incompetence in prosecuting the trust,’ Mr Bryant said.
To make matters worse for the trust, it has been told it cannot recoup any of its costs due to Ms Kellerman having been granted legal aid by the Scottish government.
Mr Bryant said: ‘We can’t get our money back through the court process. It is just wrong.
‘The only way the trust has avoided having zero cash is because private individuals have stepped up to support the trust through this difficult period.’
He added: ‘If she didn’t have legal aid she wouldn’t have a platform to do this. They waste taxpayers’ money supporting vexatious writs but they fill the courts with these actions that shouldn’t be there.’
Lawyers for Ms Kellerman, who grew up in California, have been acting via Glasgow’s publicly-funded Ethnic Minorities Law Centre (EMLC).
They have now amended their claim to sue the cafe’s actual voluntary operators, Bernera Community Association, for £10,000 – a claim which the charity said will all but bankrupt them if legal costs continue to mount.
It is already having to rely on a fundraiser to aggregate money to fund legal representation in the year-long dispute.
Ms Kellerman is claiming the charity’s cafe refused to let her service dog inside due to them preparing food on the premises.
But locals have told Our News Outlet she only sued after she was banned from the site over her behaviour, not due to the presence of her dog.
They have alleged the animal, which she insists aids her with an undisclosed disability, has been seen harassing livestock and chasing wild animals on the island.
One source even claimed it had defecated on a public bus, which Ms Kellerman then did not clean up.
They added she had shown ‘consistent behaviour’ in which she ‘bullies staff, reduces staff to tears’.
They accused her of ‘weaponising’ her dog and taking part in disputes in cafes across the island.
Sally Kellerman played the character Major Margaret ‘Hot Lips’ Houlihan in the original 1970s M*A*S*H film
‘She wants the confrontation,’ the source told the Mail. ‘She shouts loudly, reduces people to tears. It’s a very consistent MO and everybody is petrified to say it.’
Ms Kellerman, who arrived in Lewis around four years ago, is meanwhile still pursuing the case against Bernera Community Association, with a hearing set for December.
Online, Ms Kellerman speaks of the alleged ‘normalisation of abuses’ on Great Bernera, writing: ‘I am grateful to be encouraged by the many resilient individuals who’ve been harmed the past decade on Bernera, and for the opportunity to end the BCA’s unbridled abuses.’
She accused the BCA and cafe of ‘exclusion, collective harassment, shaming, ostracisation, wrongful blaming, illegal discrimination and victimization’.
She went on to cite ‘an illegal sign’ she said had hung in the cafe reading: ‘No dogs allowed in centre.’
Ms Kellerman added: ‘They act self-righteously abusing, harassing, targeting and illegally discriminating against incomers.’
She described the environment the charity had created for those who are disabled with assistance dogs as ‘vile’ with ‘intentional, targeted hostility’, blaming this on their ‘ignorance, and unwillingness to welcome all equally’.
The case has caused shock throughout the small community, which Mr Bryant described as ‘a very different world’ which prides itself on coming together to help those in need.
Labour MSP Donald Mackinnon has written to SLAB urging it to ‘urgently review’ its funding of the case because of the potential damage to its reputation.
He said it ‘raises broader concerns about the safeguards applied when public funds are used to support litigation’.
Under Scottish legislation, parties cannot typically recoup any costs from a party who has been assisted by legal aid.
A spokesman for GBCDT said: ‘The GBCDT has suffered significant cost, stress and wasted time being wrongly sued by Claire Kellerman, supported by the Ethnic Minorities Law Centre (EMLC) and Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB).
‘The GBCDT has been punished. It has nothing to do with the matters raised in the writ. EMLC & SLAB were clearly informed that GBCDT were not the right Defender in the writ. The Scottish Government should review funding for EMLC and SLAB.’
A spokesman for Bernera Community Association said: ‘We can confirm that legal proceedings have been raised against the Bernera Community Association. As the matter is now before the court, it would not be appropriate for us to comment further on the allegations or issues in dispute.
‘The Association remains focused on serving the local community and appreciates the support it has received.’
A spokesman for the SLAB said it was bound by strict confidentiality requirements regarding individual cases.
They added: ‘SLAB’s role is to assess whether the statutory tests for legal aid are met based on the information available at the time of application and throughout the life of a case. Decisions are made in accordance with legal aid legislation, regulations and guidance.
‘We are satisfied that our decision-making in this matter was, and remains, thorough, appropriate and fully consistent with the legal aid framework. Granting legal aid does not mean that SLAB supports a particular case or is financing a firm of solicitors; it means that the statutory tests for legal aid have been met.
‘Questions about the merits of a case, legal issues arising within a case or the conduct of proceedings – including whether or not an action is vexatious and whether such a finding should be reflected in awards of expenses – are matters for the courts, not SLAB.
‘We note that the case was called recently and the court allowed the action to continue. On that basis, there does not appear to have been any further change in circumstances that would require us to revisit the grant of legal aid.’
Ms Kellerman was approached for comment.
