BANGOR – Two wrongful death suits over vehicular accidents that killed three people last year have been filed in Penobscot County Superior Court.

A wrongful death lawsuit filed over a 2001 accident in Waite was settled last month.

Mary Ricker, 33, of Unity, whose husband and son died as a result of an accident that occurred about 11:15 p.m. March 7, 2003, in Unity, filed a lawsuit last month against Gary Lincoln. The 36-year-old Dixmont man was driving the pickup that collided head-on with her family’s vehicle.

The Ricker family was traveling north on Route 9, returning home from a friend’s home in Newport, when the accident occurred. Thomas Ricker was driving and Mary Ricker was in the front passenger seat, Maine State Police reported two days after the accident. Treasure Ricker was seated in the rear passenger seat behind her mother, and Peter Price was seated behind his stepfather, according to the state trooper who conducted the initial investigation.

Thomas Ricker, 48, of Unity was pronounced dead at the scene. Peter Price, 7, died at a Bangor hospital 19 hours after being flown there by emergency helicopter. Mary Ricker and her then-3-year-old daughter were treated at Eastern Maine Medical Center and released.

Lincoln and his niece Amber Lincoln, 19, of Dixmont, the only passenger in the pickup, were treated for minor injuries, according to court documents.

The lawsuit claims that Lincoln, who was returning home from work in Waterville, was “fatigued to the point of falling asleep” and that his vehicle was traveling at a speed of 45 mph when it crossed the centerline.

Mary Ricker is seeking a jury trial and an unspecified amount of damages for herself and her daughter.

In another lawsuit, the daughters of a Dexter man have filed suit against the driver of the automobile that struck a 77-year-old former town employee as he was walking near the Dexter Police Station.

Leo E. Murphy was struck on March 31, 2003, by a vehicle driven by Douglas Hackett of Dexter. Murphy died of his injuries April 16. The lawsuit claims that Hackett was operating his vehicle negligently and carelessly when it struck Murphy.

Murphy’s daughters, Rosanna Higgins of Sangerville and Kathy Getchell of Pittsfield, have asked the court to enter a judgment against Hackett for damages including medical and funeral expenses, emotional distress, loss of comfort, and the pain and suffering Murphy experienced over the 17 days between the time he was struck and the time he died.

Lincoln and Hackett each have 20 days to reply to the complaints after they have been served with them.

Criminal charges have not been filed in either case.

In another fatal accident, a confidential settlement has been reached in a lawsuit filed by the husband of a Topsfield woman who died after the pickup truck she was driving was struck by a tractor-trailer driven by a Princeton man on Sept. 21, 2001, in Waite.

Tanya Gendreau, 27, died seven days later of her injuries. She was traveling south on Route 1 when her truck was struck by a tractor-trailer driven by 34-year-old John Moholland Jr. Tanya Gendreau’s then-6-year-old twin sons suffered minor injuries, state troopers reported after the accident.

Richard Gendreau sued Moholland and the trucking firms he worked for two years after his wife’s death. The lawsuit claimed that Moholland was traveling at an excessive rate of speed and driving recklessly, carelessly and negligently.

The confidential monetary settlement was reached last month in mediation, according to Richard Gendreau’s attorney, N. Laurence Willey Jr. of Bangor. Willey said Thursday that the black box speed detector in Moholland’s vehicle showed he was driving 60 mph in a 45 mph zone. Examination of the left rear turn signal bulb showed that Tanya Gendreau had her left turn signal on when her truck was struck.

Willey said that, to his knowledge, it was the first case in the state in which a black box speed detector has been subpoenaed and used as evidence in a civil suit.

No criminal charges were filed in the case.