Petito Civil Lawsuit Heading To Jury Trial, Judge Denies Laundries' Motion To Dismiss Case

SARASOTA COUNTY, FL — A Sarasota County judge has denied a motion by Brian Laundrie’s parents to dismiss a civil lawsuit filed against them by Gabby Petito’s family. (Read the judge's full order denying the Laundries' motion to dismiss below.)

The Petitos are suing the Laundries for intentional infliction of emotional distress. The case will go before a jury trial next summer.

Petito was killed at the hands of Brian Laundrie, her fiancé, last August at a Wyoming campsite. He later took his own life, shooting himself in the head in a Sarasota County park in September.

Seeking answers and justice in her death, Petito’s parents filed the civil lawsuit against Christopher and Roberta Laundrie in March, amending their complaint at the end of April.

Her parents claim the Laundries knew their son murdered the 22-year-old woman and “knew the whereabouts of her body” when they took a family vacation in early September, according to their complaint. They’re seeking "damages that exceed $30,000 exclusive of prejudgment, interest, costs and attorney fees."

Related Stories:

• 'I Ended Her Life': Laundrie Confessed In Notebook To Killing Petito
• Judge In Laundrie, Petito Suit To Decide On Jury Trial Within 2 Weeks
• Laundries Went On Vacation Knowing Location Of Petito's Body: Lawsuit
• Gabby Petito's Mother 'Fed Up' After Release Of Laundrie's Notebook

Attorneys for the families faced off for the first time June 22 in a pre-trial hearing at a Venice courtroom. After hearing from both sides, Judge Hunter W. Carroll promised a written decision within two weeks on whether the suit would move forward to a jury trial.

In his denial of the Laundries' motion to dismiss the lawsuit, which he released Thursday, Carroll focused on the Petito family’s complaint that the Laundries failed to act by not telling them whether their daughter was dead or where her body was. The Laundries even blocked Petito’s parents’ phone numbers and social media accounts.

“The Laundries frame their ‘silence’ in constitutional terms, arguing that their silence was constitutionally permissible under the First, Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and the related Florida Constitution provisions,” the judge wrote. “The court does not believe it is necessary or appropriate in this case to resolve these constitutional claims on a motion to dismiss.”

Carroll said that Petito’s parents “appear to conflate morality with legal duty,” adding that the Laundries had no legal duty to refrain from their family vacation or communicate with them.

“If the facts of this case truly were about silence with no affirmative act by the Laundries, the court would have resolved this case in the Laundries’ favor on the concept of legal duty, or more precisely, the lack of any legal duty for the Laundries to act,” he wrote. “Had the Laundries truly stayed silent, the court would have granted the motion to dismiss in the Laundries’ favor. But they did not stay silent.”

During a national search for Petito, the Laundrie family’s attorney, Steven Bertolino, released a public comment Sept. 14 on their behalf: “It is our understanding that a search has been organized for Miss Petito in or near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. On behalf of the Laundrie family it is our hope that the search for Miss Petito is successful and that Miss Petito is reunited with her family.”

In his decision, Carroll wrote that it should be assumed “that the Laundries are responsible for authoring” the comment delivered by their attorney and called the statement “objectively outrageous.”

If it’s true that the Laundries knew Petito was dead and where her body was while her parents were looking for her, then their “statement was particularly callous and cruel, and it is sufficiently outrageous to state claims for intentional infliction for emotional distress,” according to the judge.

Carroll called the Laundries’ argument to dismiss the case “objectively outrageous” and concluded that the “plaintiffs (Petito’s parents) have stated causes of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress against the Laundries.”

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. 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 at the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping area Sept. 19.

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 Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park after more than a month of searching for him.

The medical examiner's office determined in November that he 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 Gabby Petito's death.

On Friday, Bertolino released pages from the notebook after meeting with the FBI.

In a written confession from the notebook, Laundrie said that Petito fell in while crossing a stream at the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping area and injured herself. She had difficulty staying awake, and he said he worried she might have a concussion.

“I don’t know the extent of Gabby’s injurys (sic)," he wrote in his notebook. "Only that she was in extreme pain. I ended her life, I thought it was merciful, that it is what she wanted, but I see now all the mistakes I made. I panicked; I was in shock.”

Read Judge Carroll's full order to deny the Laundries' motion to dismiss the civil lawsuit against them below: