AUBURN – A Wales man is suing a local car repair shop, claiming the shop is partly to blame for the death of his friend.

Leo Michaud has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against C.A.R. Techs Inc. of Lewiston in Androscoggin County Superior Court.

The suit accuses the Sabattus Street repair shop of causing the accident that killed Michaud’s longtime friend, Joseph Bolduc.

Bolduc, 78, was driving on Highland Spring Road in Lewiston on Sept. 13, 2003, when his 1976 Ford conversion van burst into flames. Another motorist spotted the fire and pulled Bolduc from the van, but his body had already been badly burned.

A World War II veteran and a retired trucker and painter, Bolduc died from the burns about a month later.

According to police reports, he had owned the van for about two weeks.

The lawsuit states that he took it to C.A.R. Techs Inc. on Sept. 5, 2003, for repairs and an inspection.

“As a result of the negligence of C.A.R. Techs Inc., Joseph Bolduc’s van burst into flames while he was occupying the driver’s seat,” the suit claims.

C.A.R. Techs has a filed a response in court denying Michaud’s allegations.

Elizabeth Stouder, one of the attorneys representing C.A.R. Techs, said Michaud has alleged that the fire was caused by a faulty brake job.

“That sounds really improbable,” Stouder said.

Michaud’s lawyer, John Sedgewick of Lewiston, declined to discuss details of the case.

In order to file a wrongful death suit, a person must be the legal personal representative of the person who died. Such suits seek money as compensation for the deceased person’s pain and suffering and for the pain that the plaintiff suffers as a result of losing the person.

Sedgewick described his client as a true friend who went out of his way to watch over Bolduc.