AUBURN – My Cousin Vinny’s Italian restaurant shut down after less than a year in business.

It may take longer for the people involved in the failed business to duke out their legal problems.

Ernest Vincent Donatelli – the “Vinny” for whom the restaurant was named – has filed a lawsuit against three people who he claims owned the establishment and hired him to manage it.

Donatelli, a former heavyweight boxer who moved to Maine from Boston, claims that Robert and Vicki Lussier of Auburn and Andrew Farro of Massachusetts promised to give him $600 a week to run the restaurant.

Then they never paid him a cent.

He wants $30,000 in back pay and an additional $70,000 in interest, attorney fees and liquidated damages.

The Lussiers and Farro say the charges simply aren’t true, and that they have filed a counterclaim demanding money from Donatelli.

In their response to Donatelli’s suit, Lussier and Farro claim they owned the property at 30 Lowell St. where My Cousin Vinny’s was located, and that Donatelli leased it from them to run his business.

They say he signed a year’s lease, agreeing to give them $300 a month for the first six months and $500 a month for the remainder of the year. Then he never paid his rent.

They say he also failed to pay for the utilities, the insurance and the taxes, as he promised in his lease.

Coleman Coyne, the Lewiston lawyer representing the Lussiers and Farro, said his clients were surprised when they found out Donatelli was suing them.

“He had never made this claim before,” Coyne said.

The Lussiers and Farro have asked the court to order Donatelli to pay his back rent with a late fee of 5 percent, plus the money he owes for the other services.

My Cousin Vinny’s specialized in authentic Italian food, including dishes made with Donatelli’s homemade pizza and spaghetti sauce. It opened June 14, 2003, and closed May 29, 2004.

The Sun Journal was not able to reach Donatelli or his lawyer Tuesday.