HOWLAND — The estate belonging to a woman who died in a plane crash earlier this year has filed a civil complaint against the plane’s pilot and the company where he worked.

According to the document filed in the Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, Julianna Margala, the estate administrator and sister of Maria Weller — one of six individuals who was killed after a June 29 twin-engine plane crashed between Spring Run Road and King Graves Road NE — filed the complaint against Meander Air LLC and Nicholas Maxin, administrator for the estate of Joseph Maxin, the plane’s pilot.

The case will be heard by Judge Ronald Rice.

The complaint states that the airplane, a Cessna 441, was owned and maintained by Meander Air and that, as the owner, the company had a duty to exercise reasonable care regarding its operation, use, maintenance and troubleshooting.

In the first claim for relief — negligence and wrongful death — the complaint alleges that the severe and ultimately fatal injuries sustained by Weller were a “direct and proximate” result of Meander Air’s negligence, carelessness and recklessness, by failing to ensure the plane was safe, using it when they knew or reasonably should have known it was unsafe and allowing their employees to operate the aircraft.

“Defendant Meander Air, LLC’s negligent, careless, and reckless conduct in the care, use, maintenance, management and / or operation of the aircraft, created a hazard for the occupants of N441LS, including Plaintiff’s Decedent, Maria Weller, and was a direct and proximate cause of the crash in which Plaintiff’s Decedent was killed,” the complaint states.

The second negligence and wrongful death claim, directed toward Maxin’s estate, realleges the claims against Meander Air but also alleges Maxin was negligent, reckless and careless — creating a hazard for the plane’s passengers.

Two other claims, a wrongful death and vicarious liability against Meander Air and survival, were also made.

The estate is seeking judgement against the defendants for compensatory damages “in excess” of $25,000 on each claim, as well as court costs.

The plane departed for a flight to Bozeman, Montana, at 6:52 a.m. with Maxin, 63, of Canfield as pilot and Timothy Blake, 50, of Hubbard, in the co-pilot seat. The other four passengers were Veronica Weller, 68; James (Jim) Weller, 67; John Weller, 36; and Maria Weller, 34, all of Hubbard. All were killed.

According to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board, witnesses were 1 to 2 miles northwest of the crash location and reported hearing a change in the engine sound and said the plane “never appeared above the tree line and that the engine was roaring.” The report states the plane reached an altitude of “only about 100 feet.”