Mother and daughter sue Ogunquit restaurant over 2021 parking lot fight

Nov. 5—A mother and daughter are suing an Ogunquit restaurant after they say the owner assaulted them last summer as they tried to leave.

Marian Boudreau and her daughter, who live in Massachusetts, filed a civil complaint Wednesday with the U.S. District Court in Portland against Angelina's Ristorante and Wine Bar, its owner David Giarusso and waiter Carlos Perez. The Boudreaus said Giarusso attacked them in a parking lot after Boudreau told him another customer had slipped on the restaurant's stairs.

But Giarusso — who learned of the lawsuit Friday from a Portland Press Herald reporter — said it was Boudreau who attacked him and his staff after they asked her to return a signed copy of a receipt that the restaurant needed to prove she had paid for her meal.

The Boudreau's attorney Thomas Hallett could not be reached for comment Friday.

Giarusso said he remembered the night well, not only because the fight was unusual for his restaurant, but because he and Boudreau were both charged with disorderly conduct. The district attorney's office confirmed Friday that prosecutors agreed in January not to pursue the charges.

According to the Boudreaus' complaint, they were sitting in a tent-covered "Garden Terrace" on July 29, 2021, when Boudreau saw an older woman slip on a staircase that led to the parking lot.

Boudreau said she went inside to talk to a manager and when Giarusso came out to their table a few minutes later he looked "visibly bothered" and "annoyed by her concern."

"So she's going on about this," Giarusso said Friday in an interview about the complaint. "It didn't even happen to her, what does she care?"

Boudreau's complaint says she felt Giarusso was still upset half an hour later as they were getting ready to leave. In Spanish, she told their waiter, Perez, that she felt she had "upset his boss and she had not meant to," but that she was "just looking out for his best interest."

Perez told Boudreau in English that it wasn't worth "beating a dead horse over," according to the complaint, and he told her "not to worry about leaving a tip." As they went to leave, she said Giarusso "turned around to face them and began speaking in Spanish to Boudreau," saying he understood everything she had told Perez.

Giarusso confirmed the story — he said Friday that he overheard Boudreau say she believed Perez was only telling her not to leave a tip because he was afraid Giarusso might fire him. Perez had worked at the restaurant for 19 years and was Giarusso's life partner for 22 years, he said.

"Then she must've felt stupid or something about the whole situation," Giarusso said.

Boudreau's complaint states that Giarusso berated her and her daughter in English and Spanish, another allegation he disputes, saying he tried to stop the women after he noticed the restaurant copy of their receipt was gone.

Without that, he said there was a chance the Boudreaus could dispute the bill with the credit card company and the restaurant would not be paid for the meal because they didn't have a signed copy as proof.

"She's out there screaming, yelling, calling us names," Giarusso said. "I said 'Look, we just want the credit card slips.'"

Giarusso and Boudreau disagree about who started the fight that came next.

The Boudreaus' complaint states they were trying to get in their car when a pickup truck blocked them in and Giarusso "banged her window and yelled "you didn't [expletive] pay your bill you [expletive]!"

She says Giarusso hit her several times, breaking a dental bridge, as staff tried to restrain her and her daughter.

The Boudreaus said he also hit Maria's daughter, a teenager at the time, across the jaw.

"I didn't punch her in the face several times," Giarusso said after reviewing Boudreau's complaint. "That is just a lie ... why are we going on about this a year plus later?"

He said Boudreau was the first one to start swinging at employees, who followed her outside to ask about the receipt. He said Boudreau tore his T-shirt.

Shortly after the Boudreaus left — driving over bushes because the truck was still parked behind their car — the complaint says Ogunquit and Wells police officers pulled them over, as well as the busboy who followed them, of his own accord" Giarusso said.

Ogunquit Chief of Police John Lizanecz said Friday his officers were called by restaurant employees, who reported someone was trying to leave without paying their bill.

Lizanecz said Boudreau did have both copies of the receipt in her car.

"We're a tourist-driven community. With people coming here to eat, and drink, these things happen like this a lot," Lizanecz said, referring to restaurants reporting someone left with a signed receipt. But usually, he said, things don't escalate that quickly.

The Boudreaus are seeking more than $75,000 damages, which will be determined at trial, for assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of distress. Boudreau said she has persistent knee pain which makes her job as a dental assistant difficult, according to the complaint. Traumatized by the incident, her daughter — who started college a few months later — struggled in school and isolated herself.

Giarusso said he's worried about any negative attention his restaurant will receive because of the lawsuit and media coverage. However, he's not worried about anything coming from it.

"Because I know we didn't do anything wrong," he said.