An Ogunquit restaurant owner has filed a counterclaim against a Boston woman and her daughter who sued him over a heated argument last year.
The women filed a federal lawsuit last month against Angelina’s Ristorante and Wine Bar, its owner, David Giarusso, and waiter Carlos Perez alleging Giarusso attacked her in the parking lot during an escalating dispute over a receipt.
In his counterclaim, Giarusso said it was the mother, Marian Boudreau, who attacked him.
Boudreau is asking the courts for more than $75,000 in damages for assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of distress. Giarusso’s counter-claim doesn’t ask for a specific amount in damages, but alleges he suffered assault and battery.
A voicemail left for Boudreau asking to discuss the case was not returned.
Reached by phone at the restaurant, Giarusso declined to discuss his counterclaim. His lawyer, David Soley, said it was filed because “there is a tremendous disagreement about what happened” and “Mr. Giarusso was not the aggressor.”
Thom Hallet, who represents Boudreau, said counterclaims in these types of suits are unusual. He said no trial date has been set but expects that a trial will take place sometime in 2023.
Federal courts require the two sides in these types of suits to pursue a settlement before going to court. If they can’t agree, the case will go to trial, probably no earlier than late next summer, Soley said.
The altercation began when Boudreau and her daughter were eating at Giarusso’s restaurant in July 2021. Boudreau said she tried to alert a manager that she had seen a woman slip on the stairs of the terrace. In her original lawsuit, she claimed Giarusso was “visibly bothered” and “annoyed by her concern” when he came out to her table to talk a few minutes later.
The argument between Giarusso and Boudreau really began later that night when the woman said she apologized to her waiter, Perez, worrying that she had upset his boss. Perez told her not to bother leaving a tip.
Boudreau apparently wasn’t aware that Perez had worked at the restaurant for 19 years and has been Giarusso’s life partner for 22 years. In an interview with the Press Herald last month, Giarusso said he overheard the whole thing.
The dispute escalated when, Giarusso said, he and other restaurant employees asked her to return the signed restaurant copy of her credit card receipt, which Giarusso said he would need if Boudreau disputed the charge for the meal. Boudreau and Giarusso agree that the fight continued in the parking lot, although they differ sharply on who caused the dispute to become more heated.
“She’s out there screaming, yelling, calling us names,” Giarusso said last month. “I said ‘Look, we just want the credit card slips.’ ”
Boudreau and her daughter say they tried to leave, but were blocked in by a pickup truck. Boudreau’s suit alleges that Giarusso then “banged (on) her window and yelled, ‘you didn’t (expletive) pay your bill, you (expletive).”
Her complaint alleged that Giarusso hit Boudreau several times and broke a dental bridge while staff tried to restrain her and her daughter.
Giarusso has denied hitting Boudreau.
In his counter-claim, he says Boudreau got out of her car and “hit, pushed and punched him multiple times and she ripped Mr. Giarusso’s valuable shirt.”
The counter-claim alleges that some bystanders described Boudreau attacking Giarusso like “a wild dog” and that her daughter had to hold her back. Boudreau also called Giarusso a homophobic slur, his suit claims.
Ogunquit and Wells police later pulled over the women and a busboy who had followed them. Both Boudreau and Giarusso were charged with disorderly conduct, but the York County District Attorney’s office decided earlier this year not to prosecute either case.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
