A judge Monday ordered the owner of two pit bulls accused of attacking a young Scarborough girl and killing her puppy last year to pay the family a settlement, according to the family’s attorney.

Joseph Bowser must pay the Caiazzo family $5,000 by May 15, the family’s attorney Owen Pickus said Tuesday.

If Bowser does not pay the family by then, he must pay $50,000, Pickus said.

The civil case was supposed to go to trial in Cumberland County Superior Court Monday afternoon. Bowser did not have legal representation and agreed to the settlement instead, Pickus said.

The Caiazzos referred all questions to Pickus.

“Whatever makes the Caiazzos satisfied, I’m satisfied,” Pickus said. “I believe Mr. Bowser is getting a very fair deal and that the damages could’ve been more severe.”

On April 22, Laurie Caiazzo was walking on Burnham Road with her 11-year-old daughter and their 3-month-old Pomeranian, Clarice, when Bowser’s pit bulls, Menace and Ty, charged at them, according to Scarborough police. The 11-year-old girl picked up the Pomeranian but dropped it when the pit bulls began nipping at her. The Caiazzos ran away, but the pit bulls killed the Pomeranian. The girl sustained minor injuries.

When police first responded to the scene, according to police reports, a person at Bowser’s residence said the dogs had been taken away, but declined to specify where. Bowser’s teenage daughter later turned the dogs in to the Scarborough police station.

The dogs were not registered with the town of Scarborough. Bowser did not have any other animals registered with the town.

One of the dogs was under court order to be restrained prior to the incident, Pickus said.

“I was not surprised,” Helen Hoffses, who lives on Trapper John Road near Bowser, told the Current last summer. “(The dogs) have come running into our yard, running up on to our deck. It’s been going on for years.”

Menace had been under a confinement order, meaning she was not supposed to be running loose, since July 2007. The order followed a report filed by Hoffses, who said she complained to the Scarborough police in the summer of 2007 after the pit bulls charged her and her children

The dogs were sent to the Animal Refuge League in Westbrook. Both dogs were euthanized several months later as a result of the incident.

“My understanding was prior to what we did, the neighborhood seemed to be terrorized,” Pickus said on Tuesday. “I’m glad to say that at least me and my partner were able to achieve bringing comfort and safety to that community.”

According to Maine law, keeping a dangerous dog is a civil violation, not criminal. The law states that any person who is assaulted or threatened by a dog, or witnesses the assault or threatening of a domestic animal, can write a complaint to local law enforcement. If the investigating officer finds the claim to be true, then a civil violation summons is issued to the owner for keeping a dangerous dog. Towns can adopt ordinances in addition to the state’s dangerous dog laws.

Scarborough follows only the state mandate and has not changed its ordinance since the incident, Town Clerk Tody Justice said Tuesday.

Bowser could not be reached for comment.