WEST LAFAYETTE, IN — One of the three co-owners of Bruno's Pizza is alleging in a lawsuit filed Friday that she is being frozen out of the family business despite the equally split ownership.
Sisters Krista Rodriguez, Angela McDonald and Holly Beattie announced in May 2024 that the trio would reopen their family's pizzeria business, founded by their grandfather Bruno Itin Sr., after the closure of the Brown Street restaurant earlier that year.
About a year after reopening the restaurant at 2512 Covington St., Rodriguez said in the lawsuit against McDonald and Beattie that she began a relationship with a fellow co-worker. When the relationship began in October 2025, Rodriguez said it did not violate any workplace policies, company resolutions or governing documents of Bruno's, and the relationship was unknown to any other employees.
But the relationship was discovered in January 2026, the lawsuit said, when McDonald and Beattie drove by their sister's house.
Bruno's employs 35 people, the lawsuit said, and does not have an operating agreement. Formal business duties were not delegated among the three owners.
"Rodriguez's personal relationship was not the first such one among Bruno's coworkers, either; however, it remains the only intra-company relationship that has drawn the ire and disapproval of defendants," the lawsuit said. "Indeed, no other relationship involving Bruno's employees has been met with a disclosure form and liability waiver."
The lawsuit speculates that McDonald and Beattie likely disapproved of their sister's new relationship "due to the age difference between Rodriguez and her companion." After the outing of Rodriguez's relationship, the lawsuit said the two fellow owners implemented new policies in a "disparate manner between Rodriguez and her companion" that allegedly served as a way to freeze Rodriguez out of the family business.
"For instance, Defendants refused to meet with Rodriguez and her companion to discuss or address whatever personal concerns they harbored. This refusal was particularly troubling to Rodriguez given Bruno's non-discrimination policy," the lawsuit said, pointing to the Bruno's employee handbook that explains the nature of employment decisions.
The lawsuit said McDonald and Beattie allegedly acted against the restaurant's employee handbook, purposely scheduling Rodriguez and her companion in different shifts to separate the couple.
Rodriguez said in the lawsuit that during this time, McDonald and Beattie hired lawyers to draft a "Relationship Disclosure and Liability Waiver" as a means to fire their sister.
The pair then invited Rodriguez to a "mediation" in February, the lawsuit said, to address business issues with what was labeled as a "third party."
But when Rodriguez walked into the meeting, the lawsuit said she quickly realized it was an "attempt to convince Rodriguez to sell her ownership interests."
"Most egregiously, Defendants threatened Rodriguez with alternative strategies if she did not agree to sell her ownership interests in Bruno's, including costly and protracted litigation, and dissolution and reformation of Bruno's without her involvement," the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit said the two sisters said expressed their desire for Rodriguez to adopt a passive ownership role, citing their disapproval of her personal relationship and asking that she sign a liability waiver. Rodriguez said she requested time to discuss and review the waiver with her own lawyer, but she received pressure throughout February and March from her sisters to sign the document.
On April 16, one week after Rodriguez said she notified McDonald and Beattie that she had scheduled a meeting with her lawyer to review the document, the two sisters terminated her employment as a manager from the business via a letter from their attorney.
"Rodriguez was so blindsided by this termination that she performed her regularly scheduled payroll duties while this termination was in transit, but unbeknownst to her," the lawsuit said. "Defendants, of course, knew that the termination was in transit and continued to communicate with Rodriguez about payroll."
Despite language in her termination letter saying Rodriguez would be paid for her final days of work, Rodriguez said she never received her final paycheck.
Since Rodriguez's firing, the lawsuit alleges that McDonald and Beattie have continued to alter policies and hold company meetings without her involvement despite her still being a partial owner.
"Rodriguez, conversely, has attempted to negotiate the sale of her ownership interests to Defendants, but has not received any remotely reasonable offer," the lawsuit said. "The timing of Defendants' termination and freeze-out is particularly troubling to Rodriguez, whose employment with a community school expires in the summer — a fact known to Defendants. And Rodriguez's companion had terminated his employment with Bruno's in March 2026, so neither Defendants nor Bruno's faced any imminent issue whatsoever."
Along with monetary damages, Rodriguez said the alleged misconduct from her sisters has caused her "substantial emotional distress and damaged relationships with her extended family and friends."
Rodriguez is requesting an undetermined amount for damages and requests a trial by jury.
Jillian Ellison is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. She can be reached via email at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Bruno's co-owner alleges in lawsuit her sisters fired her over relationship