The latest news about Maine lakes and ponds.

Lawsuits Filed in Long Lake Boat Deaths

May 28, 2008 - PORTLAND -- Relatives of the two people who died when their motorboat collided with a larger speedboat on Long Lake last summer have filed separate civil lawsuits in Cumberland County Superior Court against Robert LaPointe of Medway, Massachusetts, the boat's operator, LaPointe's father, George LaPointe Jr., of Ashland, Massachusetts, and Rick's Café, a Naples restaurant.

Terry Raye Trott, 55, of Naples, and Suzanne Groetzinger, 44, of Berwick, died when the 14 foot boat they were in was struck by LaPointe's 35 foot, 435 hp Sunsation Dominator near Bear Point on Long Lake in Harrison around nine o'clock on the night of August 11, 2007. Their bodies were recovered from the lake three days later.

Robert LaPointe and his passenger, Nicole Randall, were able to swim to shore, after being ejected from LaPointe's boat that landed 134 feet into the woods on Bear Point.

Robert LaPointe's blood alcohol level, approximately two hours after the collision, was .11%, according to police. Maine's legal blood-alcohol limit is .08%.

Robert LaPointe was indicted by a Cumberland County Superior Court grand jury on two counts of manslaughter, four counts of aggravated operating under the influence and one count of reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon. He pleaded not guilty to all seven charges, in late November.

Attorney Benjamin R. Gideon of the law firm of Berman and Simmons, filed the lawsuit on behalf of Groetzinger's three children, 26-year-old Alyssa Groetzinger, of Otisfield, 25-year-old Blaine Groetzinger, of Portland, and 16-year-old Jordan Edwards, of Oxford. Attorney C. Alan Beagle of the law firm of Beagle & Ridge in Portland filed a lawsuit on behalf of Trott's estate and his surviving children. They are seeking "a judgment against defendants for such damages as are reasonable, including compensatory damages and punitive damages, together with interest and costs. And such other and further relief as the court deems just and appropriate."

Counts I and II of both lawsuits allege that Robert LaPointe "negligently and with actual or implied malice drove the Dominator at a high rate of speed directly into the 14 foot fiberglass boat operated by Trott" that resulted in "pre-death pain and suffering" and "in the death" of Trott and Groetzinger.

Count III of both lawsuits alleges that Naples Casino, Inc., doing business as Rick's Café in Naples, "negligently and or recklessly" served liquor to LaPointe in violation of "Maine's Liquor Liability Act."

Count IV of each lawsuit claims that Robert LaPointe owned three parcels of land in joint tenancy: 6.92 acres at 61 Buswell Rd in Bridgton, 9.31 acres on Buswell Road in Bridgton, and approximately 100 acres of land on Whitney Road "leading from the Bridgton-Sweden highway, westerly, to the Ingalls Hill Road in Bridgton." The attorneys for the plaintiffs allege that "on or about November 20, 2007, defendant Robert Lapointe and his wife, Heather Lapointe, transferred their entire interest in the Whitney Road property to defendant George Lapointe Jr., defendant Robert LaPointe's father" and that the transfer of the property on Whitney Road "took place after the collision on August 11, 2007" and "after receiving notice of the plaintiffs claim that was made at a time when defendants Robert and George LaPointe understood that the available insurance (with a $300,000 limit) on the Sunsation Dominator would be insufficient to compensate the victims of the collision, and therefore in anticipation of future liability as a result of that collision, and was made to an insider (the defendant's father), the transfer was fraudulent as against the plaintiff," in violation of the Maine's Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act.

This article first appeared in the Bridgton News, May 22, 2008.


Lakes: Long Lake
Regions: Sebago


Print this story

Email this story

return to Lake News