LOS ANGELES (CN) - A woman claims in court that her boyfriend Neil Papiano, a well-known L.A. attorney, routinely abused her, leaving her "utterly subservient and dependent upon him," and then dumped her.
Katherine Parnello sued Neil Papiano and his law firm, Iverson, Yoakum, Papiano and Hatch, in Superior Court.
She claims Papiano has systematically abused her, often in public, since September 2011.
The complaint states: "In September of 2011, Katherine was waiting for Neil to meet her for dinner at Mimi's Café in Monrovia [a San Gabriel Valley suburb]. Neil was late, and after about an hour of waiting for him, Katherine left the café. As Katherine was walking to her car in the parking lot, Neil pulled up next to her and said, 'Get in.' As soon as Katherine sat down in the car Neil began to pull her hair and beat Katherine with his left closed fist in the temple and back of the head.
"On December 26, 2011, in the dining area of the Santa Anita racetrack, Neil grabbed Katherine's clutch bag and threw it on the ground where he crushed it with his foot to keep Katherine from getting it. As Katherine went under the table to retrieve her purse and its contents, Neil kicked her in the face, keeping her from retrieving her things. He would not even let Katherine go to the ladies' room when she asked, as Katherine wanted to go wash the welt on her face, but Neil told her she could not leave. Neil ranted at Katherine and accused her of having sex with various jockeys."
Two weeks later, Parnello claims, the 77-year old Papiano assaulted her again, again at a restaurant in Monrovia.
"On January 8, 2012, at the Peach Café in Monrovia, Neil grabbed Katherine's ponytail, pulling her into the outdoor patio area and throwing her on the ground. While holding Katherine by the hair, he punched her in the left eye. Neil forcefully pulled Katherine up by the arm and dragged her to their closely parked cards [sic]. Neil began choking Katherine with his hands, screaming in her face," the complaint states.
Parnello says Papiano abused her again in February: "On or about February 1, 2012, while Katherine and Neil were at the Palm Restaurant in downtown Los Angeles, as Katherine stood up from the booth they were sitting in Neil shoved the table against Katherine's chest and ribs, pinning her. Neil kicked Katherine's shins under the table. As Katherine cried and laid her head on the table in great pain, Neil said that he would release Katherine if she promised not to walk out."
So it went, Parnello says in the 16-page complaint: "In March 2012, at the Derby restaurant in Arcadia, Neil grabbed Katherine's hair and pulled her head down, causing Katherine's face to hit a corner of the table.
"On or about July 19, 2012, in Los Angeles, California, Neil made a threatening gesture directly at Katherine, motioning as though he was slicing a throat."