THE American woman who is at the centre of a legal battle with a community charity in the Outer Hebrides has addressed the fallout in a new interview with Sky News.
Claire Kellerman, who is the niece and adoptive daughter of the late Hollywood actress and MASH star Sally Kellerman, also previously spoke out in an interview with The National.
It comes after the 62-year-old, who moved to Lewis from California in 2023, has found herself in the middle of a media storm after it emerged that the Bernera Community Association, which runs a volunteer-run community cafe on the island, and the Bernera Development Trust both face financial ruin after she launched legal action against them.
Kellerman is looking for £10,000 in a legal claim after she was last year refused permission to bring her dog into the Bernera Community Cafe.
Kellerman’s lawyers, the Glasgow-based Ethnic Minorities Law Centre, initially launched a court challenge against the Bernera Development Trust, which ran up legal costs of more than £7000.
However, they then admitted in court that the action was directed against the wrong organisation. The trust was awarded legal expenses, but Kellerman is protected from paying costs under the rules of the civil legal aid scheme.
Her lawyers have now brought a claim against the community association, the voluntary group that runs the cafe.
But in an interview with Sky News, Kellerman did not express any regret about the decision to bring legal action – saying that it was “not her business” if the community facility closes and that the collateral damage was “their choice”.
She added that she would “never be happy” to see such a centre shut its doors, saying: “I’ve never ever wished them anything but ‘May I please have a cup of tea in your cafe’ - that’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
Kellerman, who hasn’t explained what her disability is which requires an assistance dog, told the broadcaster: “She’s my assistance dog for what I need her to do, and she’s been there by my side for four-and-a-half years, always here, always available, always attending to whatever I need, and if I go into too much detail, it’s something I don’t feel I need to do for anybody.”
She added: “Do I want to take people to court? Absolutely not. Would I like to reconcile with some friendly moment - mutual compassion, mutual respect - it’s that energy of ostracising incomers, and even locals have told me that they’ve been shunned and banned, and they don’t fit the clique.”
