PORTLAND – The children of a woman killed on Long Lake in Naples last summer have filed a civil lawsuit seeking damages from the man police say was driving the speedboat that struck her and her companion.

Suzanne Groetzinger, 44, of Berwick and Terry Raye Trott, 55, of Naples died in the water after their 14-foot runabout was struck in the middle of the lake on Aug. 11.

Named as defendants in the suit are Robert M. LaPointe, 39, of Bridgton and Medway, Mass., LaPointe’s father, George LaPointe Jr., of Ashland, Mass., and Rick’s Cafe in Naples.

Robert LaPointe, who was operating his Sunsation Dominator at the time of the crash, pleaded not guilty in November to seven criminal charges, including two counts of manslaughter. He was indicted by a Cumberland County grand jury on the manslaughter charges plus four counts of aggravated operating under the influence and one count of reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon. LaPointe is scheduled to go to trial on the charges Sept. 8.

The civil suit was filed for the family in Cumberland County Superior Court on Wednesday by Benjamin Gideon, an attorney with Berman & Simmons, a firm with offices in Portland and Lewiston. The family members seeking damages for their loss include Blaine Groetzinger, 25, of Portland; Alyssa Groetzinger, 26, of Otisfield; and Jordan Edwards, 16, of Oxford.

The suit names Rick’s Cafe, a popular Naples bar and restaurant where prosecutors in the criminal case say LaPointe was drinking before the collision. It argues that employees there should have recognized that “LaPointe was visibly intoxicated” and should have known he could pose a danger to others while operating his boat.

Robert LaPointe’s blood-alcohol content was found to be .11 about two hours after the crash when a sample was taken at a Bridgton hospital. Maine’s legal limit for operating a boat or other motor vehicle is .08 percent.

The lawsuit also alleges that Robert LaPointe transferred property to his father after the younger LaPointe had been served with notice of intent to sue by Groetzinger’s children and just seven days before Robert LaPointe was charged with manslaughter, in violation of Maine’s Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act.

That property transfer included a nearly 100-acre tract of land on Whitney Road near Long Lake in Bridgton that LaPointe owned with his wife, Heather. The lawsuit alleges that the transfer was made “at a time when Defendants Robert and George LaPointe understood that the available insurance on the Sunsation Dominator would be insufficient to compensate the victims of the collision,” and that the men were making an attempt to conceal assets in anticipation of the younger LaPointe’s potential financial liability because of the crash.

LaPointe’s boat was insured under a liability policy limited to a $300,000 payout.

The collision occurred near the middle of the 11-mile-long lake south of Bear Point on the east shore and not far from the Naples town line at about 9 p.m. on Aug. 11. Trott and Groetzinger were aboard Trott’s 14-foot Glasspar runabout to watch the Perseids meteor shower when LaPointe’s 32-foot craft with twin 435-horsepower engines struck them. The LaPointe and his passenger were ejected and swam to shore.

His boat traveled unmanned for about 1,000 yards before launching onto the shore, landing some 134 feet from the water’s edge in woods near Bear Point Road. The boat’s engines were still running when it grounded.

In the suit, Groetzinger’s children allege 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.”

“This case cannot come anywhere close, in any way toward making them whole for what’s happened to them and their family,” Gideon said. “She was very close to all three of her children and had contact with them daily.”

Gideon said the outcome of LaPointe’s criminal case could have a bearing on the civil case. If LaPointe pleads guilty or is convicted of any of the charges where the conviction requires proof he was negligently operating a vehicle while intoxicated, the effect of that would be binding in the civil case, Gideon said.

“The only question at that point would be what would be a fair amount to compensate the family,” he said.

Maine civil law caps wrongful death liability at $500,000 for emotional distress and loss of companionship and comfort and caps punitive damages at $75,000, but the recovery of potential financial earnings for minors who suffer the loss of a supporting parent is up to the jury. Funeral expenses may also be recovered.

On Nov. 27, when LaPointe was arraigned on the criminal charges, Justice Robert E. Crowley reduced LaPointe’s bail from $100,000 cash to $50,000 cash over Cumberland County District Attorney Stephanie Anderson’s protest. LaPointe’s lawyer, Neale Duffett, argued for the reduction because LaPointe turned himself in, had no prior criminal convictions in Maine and has family connections here.

At the time, Duffett said his client was “very tightly strapped financially,” having depleted his own assets and raised money from friends and family for bail.

At the time of the accident, LaPointe was vice president of sales at Comptel Services Inc. in Holliston, Mass., which buys and sells used telecommunications equipment. The company is owned by Arthur Schwartz, who has described himself as LaPointe’s mentor.

Phone messages left for LaPointe’s attorneys in Massachusetts and Maine went unreturned Wednesday.