Judge To Decide Within 2 Weeks If Jury Trial Moves Forward In Laundrie, Petito Lawsuit

Updated: 4:14 p.m., Wednesday

VENICE, FL — A Sarasota County judge heard from both sides during a Wednesday afternoon pre-trial hearing in a civil wrongful death lawsuit filed by Gabby Petito’s family against Brian Laundrie’s parents.

After hearing from both families’ attorneys in a Venice courtroom, Judge Hunter W. Carroll said he’ll make a written decision within two weeks on whether the suit will move forward to a jury trial next summer. (Watch a video of the pre-trial hearing from WFLA below.)

While Laundrie's parents, Christopher and Roberta Laundrie, didn't attend Wednesday's hearing. Petito's parents — Joe Petito and Nichole Schmidt — appeared in court.

Her parents were tearful at various points throughout the hearing. Outside the courthouse, Schmidt showed reporters a necklace containing her daughter’s ashes that she wore and a mass card created in Petito's honor.

Related Stories:

• Gabby Petito's Mother Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit: Reports
• Laundries Went On Vacation Knowing Location Of Petito's Body: Lawsuit
• Petito, Laundrie Lawsuit: Jury Trial Set For 2023 In Sarasota County
• Laundrie Attorney Calls Petito Family's Lawsuit 'Frivolous': Report

Gabby Petito’s family is seeking justice in the death of their daughter at the hands of Brian Laundrie, her fiancé, while on a cross-country road trip visiting national parks last summer.

After the Petito family's lawsuit was initially filed, an attorney for the Laundries, Steven Bertolino, called it "baseless and frivolous" and said the couple can’t be held liable for exercising their legal right to remain silent.

In the suit, her family claims that Laundrie's parents, North Port residents, not only knew their son had killed Petito during the couple's trip but they also knew where her body was located when they took a family vacation to a Florida campground Sept. 6-7. They said the Laundries stopped responding to their texts and calls about their daughter and accuse them of intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The Laundries’ attorney, Matt Luka, who is seeking to dismiss the lawsuit on behalf of his clients, told Carroll Wednesday, “Our position is straightforward: a cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress was not intended to include liability for a defendant who does nothing, who has no contact with the plaintiff.”

He added, “All of our arguments regarding outrageousness, legally permissible conduct, causation and the presence of the plaintiff all go back to that premise and show why there is no legal footing for this cause of action in this context. Conduct that amounts to remaining silent and maintaining privacy is not intentional infliction of emotional distress.”

Luka said that under the state and federal constitutions the Laundries had “no such obligation to speak” to the Petito family.

Pat Reilly, attorney for Petito’s parents, argued, “This case is not simply about the silence of Christopher and Roberta Laundrie, who knew that their son had brutally murdered Gabby Petito. It’s not simply about their callous refusal, despite pleas from the Petito family, to speak up about whether or not Gabby was alive and if she was and where her body was located. It’s about a course of conduct that they committed from the moment they learned on Aug. 28 of 2021 that their son had brutally murdered Gabby Petito up until the time that her body was found.”

He noted that the Laundries, knowing her parents were searching for her, “did things affirmatively.”

“They didn’t just stay silent,” he said, adding, “They went on vacation. They assumed and continued their normal life as though nothing had happened while this family was suffering, wanting to know where their daughter was.”

The Petito family's complaint was initially filed in Sarasota County in March and amended at the end of April.

Among those the family would like to testify during a potential jury trial are Christopher and Roberta Laundrie, as well as Petito’s parents and her stepparents, Tara Petito and James Schmidt. Also on the potential witness list for next summer are unnamed members of the FBI and the North Port Police Department, the primary agencies that investigated their daughter's death.

Brian Laundrie and Gabby Petito were Long Island, New York, natives living with his parents in North Port when they left for a trip to visit state parks in the western United States last summer, but only Laundrie returned to Florida on Sept. 1.

Petito, who was last heard from at the end of August 2021, was found strangled to death near a Wyoming national park Sept. 19.

Laundrie and his parents camped at Fort De Soto Park in St. Petersburg Sept. 6-7, while knowing that his fiancée was dead and that her body was at the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping area in Wyoming, the Petitos claim.

"While Gabrielle Petito's family was suffering, the Laundrie family went on vacation to Fort De Soto Park," according to the Petito family complaint. "They went on vacation knowing that Brian Laundrie had murdered Gabrielle Petito, it is believed that they knew where her body was located and further knew that Gabrielle Petito's parents were attempting to locate her."

The family said Laundrie's parents also stopped communicating with them and that Roberta Laundrie even blocked Schmidt, Petito's mother, on her cell phone and on Facebook.

The Laundries, knowing Petito was dead, continued to publicly issue statements that they hoped Petito would be found and reunited with her family, the lawsuit claims.

"For the Laundries to express their 'hope' that Gabrielle Petito was located and reunited with her family, at a time when they knew she had been murdered by their son was beyond outrageous," the complaint said.

Brian Laundrie was reported missing Sept. 17 in North Port. His skeletal remains, as well as a notebook and other items belonging to him, were found in a Sarasota County park after more than a month of searching for him.

The medical examiner's office determined in November that Laundrie died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.

In January, the FBI said the notebook found near Laundrie's body included written statements by him claiming responsibility for Petito's death.

Watch a pre-trial hearing in the civil wrongful death lawsuit filed by Gabby Petito's family against Brian Laundrie's parents in the below video: