Family of man killed in crash and critically injured wife sues driver, insurers [Sun Journal, Lewiston, Maine]

June 04--AUBURN -- The estate of a Poland man killed last year while he and his wife were riding on his motorcycle is suing the driver of the car that collided with the couple.

In a lawsuit filed in Androscoggin County Superior Court, a personal representatives for the estate of the late Kevin Lemm and the guardian for his surviving wife, Elisha, filed a complaint against Glenn P. Stoodley and three insurance companies.

Kevin Lemm was driving his 2009 Yamaha motorcycle and his wife was passenger on Plains Road in Poland on July 12 shortly after 10 p.m. when a 1996 Oldsmobile driven by Stoodley, 22, of Poland crossed the center line and collided with the motorcycle, authorities who investigated the scene said. Stoodley was apparently distracted and operated the car he drove in an erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner, according to the accident report.

Kevin Lemm, 45, was taken to a Lewiston hospital where he died from injuries sustained in the accident. Elisha Lemm, 48, was listed in critical condition after the crash.

Stoodley and a passenger were not injured.

Rebecca Poirier, is daughter and serves as her mother's guardian. She is a plaintiff in the complaint as her mother's representative. Jacqueline Lemm, Kevin Lemm's mother, is his personal representative and serves as the other plaintiff in the lawsuit.

Three insurance companies also are named as defendants in the complaint. Geico Insurance was listed as Lemm's insurance company in the accident report. The other two companies named in the complaint are Interinsurance Exchange of the Automobile Club and Dairyland Insurance Company. All three were in full effect at the time of the crash and provided uninsured/underinsured vehicle coverage, according to the complaint.

Stoodley was underinsured at the time of the crash, the complaint says.

In the complaint, Poirier seeks to recover money spent and expected to be spent on Elisha Lemm's medical bills and expenses as well as money that would capture loss of earnings since the accident and into the future and pain and suffering.

Jacqueline Lemm is seeking money to cover her son's injury and pre-death pain and suffering.

His estate has incurred medical and funeral expenses.

Elisha and Jacob Lemm are deprived of the comfort, society and companionship of Kevin Lemm as well as monetary loss and suffer emotional distress resulting from Stoodley's negligence, according to the complaint.

Jacqueline Lemm also is seeking money under Maine's Wrongful Death Act.

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