Labour's Donald MacKinnon has called for an urgent review of a decision to grant legal aid to a woman suing a Hebridean community association after she was barred from taking her dog into a café.
The dispute has left two volunteer-led island charities facing crippling expenses after they were targeted in court.
Claire Kellerman, who moved from California to the Outer Hebrides four years ago, launched the action after she was refused permission to bring her pet into a community-run eaterie on Great Bernera, an island of approximately 250 residents off the coast of Lewis.
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Her lawsuit was originally directed against the Great Bernera Community Development Trust (GBCDT). However, the trust had no connection to the café's management.
By the time Ms Kellerman's legal team admitted in court that they had sued the wrong organisation, the development trust had accumulated more than £7,000 in legal expenses.
Although the sheriff court formally awarded expenses to the wrongly named trust, it received nothing because Ms Kellerman is protected from paying costs under the rules of the civil legal aid scheme.
Her lawyers, the Glasgow-based Ethnic Minorities Law Centre, subsequently amended the writ to target the Bernera Community Association (BCA), the voluntary group that actually runs the café.
The association has warned that it now faces potential insolvency as funds normally raised for local community services are swallowed by legal fees.
Last week, at Stornoway Sheriff Court, the case was continued for legal debate in December piling further costs upon Bernera Community Association.
Stornoway Sheroff Court (Image: Newsquest)
Following a meeting with advisers representing the community association, Mr MacKinnon, the MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar, wrote to the Scottish Legal Aid Board calling for an immediate investigation into why public money was granted and subsequently transferred to a revised action.
In the letter, which was first reported by the Stornoway Gazette, Mr MacKinnon wrote: "This case raises broader concerns about the safeguards applied when public funds are used to support litigation. Legal aid serves an important role in ensuring access to justice.
