THE American woman at the centre of a media storm after launching legal action against two Scottish island community organisations previously had a court case against her former employers thrown out, US court filings have shown.
Claire Kellerman, who is from California but now lives on Great Bernera in the Outer Hebrides, has made headlines with her legal battles against the island’s Bernera Community Association over whether she can take her dog – which she alleges is an assistance animal she trained to help her with an unspecified disability – into its volunteer-run cafe.
READ MORE: US woman at centre of dog-ban legal battle with islanders speaks out
Kellerman initially launched legal action against the unrelated Bernera Development Trust, which ran up legal costs of more than £7000 before she admitted to taking the wrong organisation to court.
Then, with support from the Glasgow-based Ethnic Minorities Law Centre, Kellerman launched legal action against the Bernera Community Association. The case, which is expected to centre on whether the alleged assistance dog should have been allowed into the cafe, is due in court next year.
Now, The Stornoway Gazette – which first reported on the case – has unearthed a court ruling from Hawaii in 2020 with striking parallels to the current situation, including that a 2019 attempt to sue had been dismissed “for reasons including mootness and asserting claims against the wrong entity”.
However, Kellerman and four co-complainants against the Hoku Nui Maui farm were given a chance to amend the “deficiencies” in their initial legal action.
The judge noted these included that “the complaint was ‘noticeably short’ on factual allegations, and plaintiffs needed to do more than simply make unordained assertions of misconduct”.
Kellerman and her colleagues' renewed attempt to sue was also ultimately unsuccessful, with part of the judge’s reasoning being that they had been “relying on a disability discrimination statute when none of the plaintiffs claim to be disabled”.
READ MORE: I was violently assaulted at Reform's conference for protesting. Here's why I did it
The judge also found that they had failed to amend their initial allegations “in a plausible fashion”, including by failing to explain how their employers had supposedly breached discrimination legislation.
Kellerman had alleged that she was fired for "asking for a smoke-free workplace", while a co-complaint alleged that she had been sacked for "voicing concerns regarding untrained dogs".
A ruling dated April 30, 2020 and signed at Honolulu concludes that “all of plaintiffs' federal claims are dismissed with prejudice” and “all state law claims raised … are dismissed without prejudice to plaintiffs asserting them in state court”.
Asked for a statement on the 2020 Hawaii court case, Kellerman said: “I am grateful to live in Scotland. The court case in February 2027 is where the truth will set us all free.
“Until then, may the media show a bit of compassion for myself, my history and my triumphing over the tragic aspects of privilege, and other extremes, to live by beautiful, regenerative principles.”
She went on: “I am standing my ground, with proven disability and a proven assistance dog in the US and the UK.
“The Bernera Community Association have been aware of my disability and Tarkina [the dog] being an assistance dog since well before I moved there on July 1, 2025.”
“I am addressing systemic Hebridean discrimination against disabled people with assistance dogs,” Kellerman added.
“I thank the beautiful, sweet souls who support me and know the truth, beyond the media’s current capacity.
“I’m surprised every day, as more and more people come up to me saying how much they appreciate my caring actions, and the way I’m focused on our potential for a more unified field of safe, inclusive diversity for all of humanity locally and globally.”
Share