The woman who opened a Bangor restaurant for two months in 2024 has allegedly failed to pay the prior owner for the business, according to a new lawsuit.
Briar Jipson opened Lavano’s on July 12 and it closed in mid September. She bought the restaurant in the space of the former Tesoro Italian Restaurant at 118 Harlow St.
In the months since opening, Jipson has failed to pay $54,000 to the previous owner Brian Pelletier, according to a lawsuit filed on his behalf Thursday in Penobscot County Superior Court.
The lawsuit comes seven months after Lavano’s closed indefinitely without notice due to a medical emergency, Jipson told the Bangor Daily News at the time. The restaurant experienced turbulence with its staffing and menu before the closure, as documented on its social media page.
Jipson signed two promissory notes to purchase the business from Pelletier for $52,400, the lawsuit said. She had not made a single monthly payment as of Thursday. It alleges she has also failed to make any payments on an additional $1,600 loan.
Jipson had not been served the lawsuit as of Monday morning. After the BDN provided Jipson a copy of the lawsuit, she said she declined to comment until she spoke with a lawyer. She said that Pelletier “never loaned me $50,000. That is false information.”
The lawsuit asks a judge to find Jipson breached the contracts and was unjustly enriched, as well as order her to pay back the money she allegedly owes.
Tesoro first opened in the mid 1990s under owners Rocco and Fortunata Agrusa and has changed hands a couple times since the Agrusas sold it in 2018.
