How a legal row about Lady Tarkina Snow Fire landed me in a Hebridean doghouse
Great Bernera, Scotland (credit: Matt Pennington / PennPix)
3 min read
Great Bernera, commonly known as Bernera, is an island of about eight square miles with a population of just over 250.
It is linked to Lewis, the main island of the Western Isles, by a road bridge built in 1953. It has been a tranquil community for centuries, apart from the Bernera Riot in 1874, when the islanders resisted the Highland Clearances.
One hundred and fifty-ish years later, the islanders once more find themselves united by resistance to a common foe, but this time it follows the arrival in 2023 of an American woman, Claire Kellerman, the adopted daughter of Sally Kellerman, the actor who played “Hot Lips” Houlihan in the film M*A*S*H.
Ms Kellerman has initiated legal action seeking £10,000 in damages after being refused admission with her dog, “Lady Tarkina Snow Fire”, to the Bernera Community Café. She asserts that the dog is a self-trained assistance animal supporting a personal condition. Under statutory guidance, genuine assistance dogs are trained to perform specific tasks for people with disabilities, and self-training is a point of debate in access claims.
What turns this dispute into a matter of broader public concern is that Ms Kellerman is receiving legal representation from the Ethnic Minorities Law Centre (EMLC) and public backing via the Scottish Legal Aid Board (Slab).
To compound matters for the local community, the legal action was initially raised against the wrong body, namely the Bernera Community Development Trust, which does not operate the café.
This forced the trust to incur significant legal expenses, despite lawyers from Harper Macleod pointing out the error to Slab in advance.
Following widespread media coverage of this dispute, reports have highlighted the fact that Ms Kellerman has a history of litigation. In Hawaii in 2020, a discrimination suit in which Ms Kellerman was a co-complainant was dismissed by a judge who noted, among other findings, that the claims relied on a disability statute where none of the plaintiffs had claimed a disability in the record.
This current action, now redirected against the community association operating the café, has drawn intense public attention, and over £180,000 has been raised in donations to fund the local group’s legal defence.
I am not an islander myself, but I have also been drawn into this dispute.
Upon examining the details of this situation, I had no hesitation in resigning as a patron
In 2018, soon after the sad death of the great Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy, I was asked to take his place as a patron of the EMLC. Mindful that people from ethnic minority backgrounds often require specialised support, I enthusiastically agreed to join Helena Kennedy as a patron.
However, over the past eight years, I was never invited to meetings, sent reports, or involved in any aspect of its operations. With so much else to consider, my role had slipped my mind until it was drawn to my attention by my old friend and colleague, Brian Wilson.
Upon examining the details of this situation, I had no hesitation in resigning as a patron. I have made my position clear to the EMLC that pursuing this case falls outside what I consider to be their core remit.
Since the case became public, I have also received strong feedback from individuals with disabilities who rely on certified assistance dogs, expressing concern that disputes of this nature risk undermining public trust in general assistance dog access.
While I was initially surprised to be caught up in this case, I am thankful that it happened and believe that my experience can serve as a clear reminder to those of us in public office: exercise double caution when accepting patronages or honorary positions, and review those appointments regularly!
Lord Foulkes is a Labour peer
