PARIS, Maine—A 74-year-old Rumford woman is suing two out-of-state companies claiming they harassed her with repeated telephone sex calls and then sent her a bill for the unwanted calls.

more stories like thisThe lawsuit in Oxford County Superior Court alleges that Palisades Acquisition IX of Wilmington, Del., called Marie Boudreau over the summer of 2006 asking if she wanted to have phone sex.

The complaint alleges that another company, Wolpoff & Abramson of Wilmington and Rockville, Md., then sent Boudreau a bill for $783 on behalf of Palisades.

Boudreau’s attorney, Seth Carey, said his client repeatedly demanded without success that the company stop calling her. The companies admitted that they made a mistake, Carey said, but have not apologized to Boudreau.

The suit charges the companies with invasion of privacy, negligence, defamation and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. It asks for unspecified punitive damages.

“These actions were so extreme as to exceed all bounds of decency and must be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized society,” Carey said.

Rita Farry, an attorney in Kennebunk who represents the companies, said the parties are close to a settlement. A judge has given them until Feb. 6 to answer the complaint.