The owner of a shuttered Bangor restaurant must pay the prior owner for buying the business, a judge ruled.
Briar Jipson bought the former Tesoro Italian Restaurant at 118 Harlow St. She opened Lavano’s in the space on July 12, 2024, and it closed about two months later.
Prior owner Brian Pelletier sued Jipson in April because she failed to make the required monthly payments for two loans worth $54,000. She had signed two promissory notes as part of buying the restaurant, the lawsuit said.
Jipson must pay Pelletier $55,000 plus interest, a Penobscot County judge ruled Jan. 14. A summary judgment was issued after Jipson failed to appear in court.
The ruling comes nearly a year and a half after Lavano’s brief but turbulent time in downtown Bangor. It emerged after Lavano’s closed that it was operating without a license or an inspection. The restaurant space has remained vacant since the 2024 closure.
It was a straightforward case where Pelletier loaned Jipson money from his own pocket and she didn’t pay him back, Pelletier’s attorney Erik Peters said. The court made the right decision, Peters said.
There was ample time for Jipson to raise any defense in the case, Peters said.
The court date was for the case but it was not supposed to be for the trial, Jipson told the Bangor Daily News.
She said she will appeal the decision because she should have a chance to speak in court.
“I was scammed from the beginning,” Jipson said.
There were other people interested in buying the restaurant who were in a better financial position, but Pelletier chose her, Jipson said. She said Pelletier coerced her into the purchase.
“I trusted someone I shouldn’t have trusted and got screwed over,” Jipson said. “Because I was the last person there, I took the fall for everything.”