Laundrie Attorney, Bertolino, Seeks Settlement In Petito Suit: Court

SARASOTA COUNTY, FL — Steven Bertolino, an attorney for Brian Laundrie’s parents, has proposed a settlement in the civil lawsuit filed against him by Gabby Petito’s parents.

Court documents filed Friday in Sarasota County by Bertolino’s lawyer, Charles J. Meltz, “give notice of serving a proposal for settlement” to her parents, Nichole Schmidt and Joseph Petito.

The court records don’t include the terms of the settlement.

The details of the settlement are “confidential,” Pat Reilly, the Petito family attorney, told WFLA. “I can’t discuss.”

“Settlement, discussions and proposals are part of the process with every civil litigation,” Bertolino told the news outlet. “This case is no different.”

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The settlement is only being offered by Bertolino, records show. Laundrie’s parents, Christopher and Roberta Laundrie, also included in the lawsuit, have not filed their own settlement proposals.

Petito was killed at the hands of Brian Laundrie, her fiancé, in August 2021. He strangled her to death and left her body at a Wyoming campsite while they were on a cross-country trip.

Laundrie later took his own life, shooting himself in the head in a Sarasota County park in September of that year. His remains and a handwritten confession to killing Petito were found in October 2021.

The Petito family initially sued only the Laundries for intentional infliction of emotional distress, claiming they knew that their daughter was dead and where her body was during a national search for her.

In December, they amended their complaint to add Bertolino to the lawsuit and claimed that he also knew that Gabby Petito was dead during the public search for her in 2021. During this search, Bertolino frequently spoke as a representative of the Laundries.

Laundrie’s parents and Bertolino “knew of the mental suffering and anguish of Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt in not knowing the well-being or location of their daughter, and further knew that such mental suffering and anguish increased each day that Gabrielle Petito was missing,” Patrick J. Reilly, the attorney for Petito’s parents, wrote in their amended complaint.

“Christopher Laundrie, Roberta Laundrie and Steven Bertolino further knew that they could prevent such additional mental suffering and anguish of Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt by disclosing what they knew about the well-being and location of the remains of Gabrielle Petito, yet they repeatedly refused to do," the court document said. "In doing so, Christopher Laundrie, Roberta Laundrie and Steven Bertolino acted with malice or great indifference to the rights of Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt.”

In February, Bertolino filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit against him, which was denied by the judge.