Jury trial ordered in Petito lawsuit against Laundries, case may still be dismissed

VENICE, Fla. (WFLA) — A jury trial has been ordered and scheduled for the lawsuit filed by the mother and father of Gabby Petito in opposition to the mother and father of Brian Laundrie.

The swimsuit filed by Joe Petito and Nichole Schmidt final month claims Laundrie’s mother and father knew all alongside their son murdered 22-year-old Petito. The legal professional for Chris and Roberta Laundrie has already filed a movement to dismiss the lawsuit, calling it “baseless.”

The jury trial, if it does occur, received’t start anytime quickly.

In line with court docket paperwork obtained by Nexstar’s WFLA, a trial in entrance of a jury has been set for the week of Aug. 14, 2023, on the South County Courthouse in Venice, Florida. The trial’s time period window doesn’t start till subsequent 12 months resulting from scheduling within the Sarasota County court docket system.

The jury trial, barring dismissal, is anticipated to be open to the general public, which might draw worldwide media consideration. It might mark the primary time the Petito case reaches a courtroom and, whereas it will be a civil case as a substitute of a legal one, it might reveal the highly-anticipated proof Petito and Schmidt declare to need to assist their accusations that the Laundries have been instructed their son murdered Gabby Petito and sought to assist him flee the USA.

Whereas a date has been set, the case nonetheless faces the potential of being dismissed after the Laundries’ legal professional filed the movement for dismissal on the grounds their shoppers exercised their constitutional proper to chorus from talking and have “repeatedly relied on counsel to talk for them.”

Choose Hunter W. Carroll responded to the movement for the lawsuit’s dismissal by permitting the attorneys for Petito and Schmidt 20 days to file an amended grievance he says was obligatory resulting from a “perceived procedural deficiency” within the lawsuit.

“To be clear, the Courtroom in immediately’s order is just not passing on Defendants’ arguments that this lawsuit needs to be dismissed with prejudice,” Carroll wrote in his response. “The Courtroom’s intent is to handle the perceived procedural deficiency earlier than addressing the deserves of Defendants’ movement.”

Pat Reilly, the legal professional for Petito and Schmidt, says he’s getting ready to file the amended grievance to state “separate causes of motion on behalf of the Petito household in opposition to the Laundries.”

A ruling on whether or not the lawsuit might be dismissed is anticipated after Choose Carroll critiques the revisions. Steven Bertolino, the Laundries’ legal professional in New York, tells WFLA.com his shoppers will nonetheless search dismissal whatever the modifications made to the amended grievance.

“We’re ready for every thing,” Bertolino stated.

Reilly says he has a “excessive confidence stage” the lawsuit will attain a jury trial, if it doesn’t get settled out of court docket.

“The court docket must determine whether or not the movement to dismiss has any advantage, which I don’t imagine it does,” stated Reilly.

Petito and Schmidt are suing on the grounds of intentional infliction of emotional misery, alleging that the Laundries have been instructed by their son of Petito’s homicide “on or about” Aug. 28 and, moderately than telling them of Gabby’s demise, selected to stay silent. The lawsuit accuses the Laundrie household of appearing “with malice or nice indifference to the rights of” Petito’s household. Petito and Schmidt are looking for damages of at the very least $100,000, stating that they suffered ache and psychological anguish because of the “willfulness and maliciousness” of the Laundries.

The Laundries, by means of their authorized workforce, have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

The massive query that looms forward of a possible jury trial is the proof Petito and Schmidt declare to need to again up claims made within the lawsuit.

“They’ll have to attend and see,” stated Reilly when requested in regards to the proof. “If we didn’t imagine it was true, we wouldn’t have put them within the grievance.”