Just interested to know which PA38 accident we are talking about here?
Slightly off thread I find a lot of pilots do not turn the fuel selector to OFF at the termination of a flight and many are not aware of the safety catch to do so. This action confirms that is physically possible to select OFF, reminds the pilot how to do so (both actions required for fire in flight or for crash/committal checks in event of engine failure) and procedurally is a checklist item.
The most likely cause of the engine stoppage was stiffness of the fuel selector valve causing it to be in an intermediate position, reducing fuel flow to a level too low to sustain continuous engine operation.
1) no outstanding maintenance issues,
Debatably this
was an "outstanding maintenance issue"? Or maybe this issue should have been rectified before flight.