Brian Laundrie's parents file to have negligence lawsuit against them dropped

Earle Kimel, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
·4 min read
This police camera video provided by The Moab Police Department shows Brian Laundrie talking to a police officer after police pulled over the van he was traveling in with his girlfriend, Gabrielle 'Gabby' Petito, near the entrance to Arches National Park on Aug. 12, 2021. The couple was pulled over while they were having an emotional fight. Petito was reported missing by her family a month later and is now the subject of a nationwide search. (The Moab Police Department via AP)

SARASOTA COUNTY – The attorney for the parents of Brian Laundrie filed a motion in circuit court Thursday to dismiss a negligence suit filed against them by the parents of Gabrielle Petito.

The suit, filed March 10 against Christopher and Roberta Laundrie, claims that the couple knew about the whereabouts of their son, Brian Laundrie, following Petito’s death and may have been trying to get him out of the country prior to his death.

The motion, filed by a new Laundrie attorney, P. Matthew Luka of Tampa-based Trombley & Hanes, P.A., asks that the motion be dismissed with prejudice with no opportunity for Petito's parents, Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt, to amend it.

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“The gravamen of the claimed wrongdoing is that the Laundries exercised their constitutional rights and essentially made no statements to Plaintiffs or law enforcement,” Luka wrote. “As a matter of law the Laundries’ silence (conduct) could not form the basis of a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

“The Laundries’ constitutional rights and the elements necessary for such a cause of action would not change with an amendment of the Complaint.”

Luka also argued that the suit against the Laundries does not contain sufficient facts.

“It is insufficient to plead opinions, theories, legal conclusions or argument,” he wrote, then cited Barrett v. City of Margate, a 1999 case from the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal.

Luka said that the Laundries’ inaction was protected under the U.S. Constitution and does not meet the “outrageous” threshold test for recovery of damages.

“Rather, liability is established only where the alleged conduct is so outrageous in character and so extreme in degree, as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency, and to be regarded as so atrocious, and utterly intolerable in a civilized community,” Luka wrote.

Petito and Laundrie started a cross-country van trip from New York State on July 2, 2021, one year after the two had become engaged. Petitlo, 22, was later found dead from blunt force trauma near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.

Lawsuit claims by Gabby Petito's parents

The lawsuit, filed by Venice-based attorney Patrick J. Reilly on behalf of her parents alleges that Brian Laundrie murdered Gabrielle on Aug. 27, 2021 – the same day Schmidt received a text message from her daughter’s phone that referred to her grandfather by his first name, Stan, which was out of character.

On Aug. 30, he sent Schmidt another text, claiming that there was no cell service in Yosemite Park.

The suit alleges that Brian Laundrie then informed his parents about his fiancee’s death on Aug. 28, and that on the same day the Laundries contacted attorney Steve Bertolino and sent him a retainer Sept. 2 – the day after he arrived at his parents’ North Port home in Petito’s van.

The lawsuit calls for damages in excess of $30,000, though the cover sheet notes the claims exceed $100,000 – the highest amount listed on the form.

On the advice of their attorney, the Laundries refused to respond to Petito’s parents and reportedly did not respond to law enforcement until they filed their own missing persons report for Laundrie on Sept. 17, when he did not contact them after a camping trip in the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park, which is connected by a bridge to the T. Mabry Carlton Memorial Reserve.

After an extensive hunt of the environmental park and Carlton Reserve for Laundrie – who was classified as a person of interest in his fiancee’s disappearance and death – by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and local law enforcement, his remains were finally discovered on Oct. 20.

The search had been hampered by heavy rains. The area where Laundrie’s remains were recovered was under three feet of water early on in the search.

Luka’s motion to dismiss notes that the Laundries’ rights are protected both by the U.S. Constitution and the Florida State Constitution.

“Put simply, the Laundries have fundamental constitutional rights to silence, privacy and representation by counsel but the Laundries’ exercise of these rights is what the Plaintiffs claim caused the emotional distress,” Luka wrote. “The Laundries rights are inalienable and the Laundries can never be liable for exercising their legal rights in a permissible way.”

Luka was listed as the attorney of record for the Laundries on Thursday.

Reilly is seeking a trial by jury.

The case is currently assigned to Circuit Court Judge Hunter W. Carroll, with case management scheduled for a hearing via Zoom at 1:30 p.m., June 30.

Earle Kimel primarily covers south Sarasota County for the Herald-Tribune and can be reached at earle.kimel@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism with a digital subscription to the Herald-Tribune.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Gabby Petito family lawsuit: Dismissal sought in Brian Laundrie's parents case