the Bernera cafe/dog/legal aid saga - wtf?

[AuntieBiotics]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ced71ny99y5o

American woman living in Bernera is suing the local community run cafe because it would not admit her "emotional support" dog. She is being supported by the Ethnic Minorities Law Centre because Americans are ethnic minorities, and is being funded by Legal Aid. She wants £10k, which would shut them down.

I mean. What the actual fuck. Move to a tiny island with 250 people on it, claim you're being ostracised and harrassed and try to solve that by suing a charity? That'll sort it. And LEGAL FUCKING AID???

Sounds like a distinct mental health problem to me.

Paranoia mixed in with extreme reactions to the world around her, grandiose opioons of herself and the florid language she seems to use in all her online posting as well as in newspaper interviews suggests she isn't quite right.

Just a thought (but I know I’m bitchy) why don’t the locals all make appointments at the solicitors supporting this woman, and all bring their emotional support dogs for their vagina/penis issues. The bigger/more intimidating dog the better. Bonus points for any aggressive/reactive dog.
If they are asked to leave their offices it certainly won’t look good in court….

Undoubtedly - and I would not be surprised if her mental health problems have caused other people to experience mental health problems themselves as a result of her behaviour.

Donated.

What a disgusting and entitled human being.

I can't say what else I really think, or I'll get banned from Mumsnet 😡

Again - undoubtedly. I certainly wouldn't be happy being a committee member of the charity concerned, she's spouting all sorts of stuff all over the internet about how she's being ostracised and bullied and some people are going to believe her. She has basically thrown a hand grenade into a very small community and is now sitting back and enjoying the fuss.

Someone trying to kill her my arse.

Can I read the article without subscribing?

I’ve been vaguely following this as an American immigrant. I promise I’m neither insane nor did it ever occur to me that I’m an ethnic minority. My husband and I immigrated to Scotland 20 years ago, had our kids here, work and pay taxes here and shortly will have lived here longer than in the states without ever suing anyone. We aren’t all like this poor woman!

My kids tell people they are half Scottish and half American - ethnically that’s not quite right but emotionally it’s how they feel. They’ve never lived anywhere else so are actually much more Scottish than they know!

I do feel sorry for her as she’s clearly unwell, but it seems she moved to a tiny community and immediately started trying to change everything. And yes every organisation should prioritise inclusivity and yes people should call out and challenge injustice, but it seems she didn’t ever give anyone the chance. She just marched in and started arguing with everyone so of course no one was even listening anymore. I am guessing this could have been resolved so easily if she’d just asked the community cafe to review their policy. And no it shouldn’t be the responsibility of a disabled person to explain the law, but this all seems so unnecessary.

And totally bemused that it cost a company £7500 to just explain they aren’t the right company. Some lawyer was giggling their way to the bank after that one. Seems something that could have been sorted with one email.

I am guessing this could have been resolved so easily if she’d just asked the community cafe to review their policy.

Exactly. She went fropm zero to nuclear meltdown in 5 seconds flat.

Pure narcissistic rage that the benighted islanders hadn't fallen at her feet in gratitude for the beauty and healing being brought to them, presumably!

I’d love to know more about our what other cases this person has against other people, seems a strange tactic to move somewhere so small and set out to make everyone hate your guts!

I’d also like to know the back story of why her dogs weren’t allowed in the cafe… I don’t think I’ve been in a cafe that doesn’t allow dogs for about the last 15 years. Were they awfully behaved? (Like their owner)

I have been doing Ancestry over a few years and what made me laugh was that Donald Trump and Barack Obama were distant relatives.

On the Scottish side, I hope? (We need Barack Obama to compensate for Trump.)

Mind you, we're aa Jock Tamson's bairns...

Donations were at £50k a couple of days ago - hopefully the figure continues to rise.

She was active in the comments section of the Herald article ranting and raving. She sounds absolutely tuned to the moon 🤪. I live on Lewis, I hope she gets her arse handed to her in court come February.

It's absolutely narcissistic rage at its finest.

I’ve been interrogating AI about this because the insanity has defeated even me

For background, years ago I volunteered for a legal aid charity and it does appear that the general insanity has got worse - along with everything else. It was a useful thing to do when young because I learned to be cynical early on about this kind of stuff.

However…. It seems there is a loophole that allows this particular organisation to take on cases related to disability. Obviously, I’ve just been asking AI for factual stuff so I don’t know anything about the lady. It was more the insanity that somebody would have to spend £7000 proving they were the wrong target of a legal case that was bothering me.

i’m really hoping that this is something that the Scottish government can address? Because it’s insane.

I mean, actually, this whole case is like a screenplay about some of the most insane things currently affecting our society.

Amazing. Let's keep it going.

I believe the dog was regularly badly behaved, yes. I heard that it had killed a cat. I also heard that the cafe had a covered outdoor area for dogs, where they were given water and often little treats, so not pet-unfriendly. . It’s a small cafe and a big dog.

https://archive.is/20UcL

"Dividing an island"? Yeah. Claire Kellerman vs Literally Everyone Else.

"i’m really hoping that this is something that the Scottish government can address? Because it’s insane."
Are you familiar with the Scottish government at all?

That really made me laugh

To be honest, I think the basic error that happened here could probably happen in England as well and it really needs to be addressed

It’s like if I live at number one, and the person living at number two wants to sue the person living at number three, but accidentally served papers to me! It shouldn’t cost me £7000 when they’ve sued the wrong person.

I realise this thread is talking about a lot of other issues but the mess of the law is really critical here.

MSP for the Western Isles raised this with John Swinney in Hollyrood this afternoon. Swinney was not aware of the particular case but asked that Donald MacKinnon write to him with the details.