SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — The families of Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie have successfully avoided an upcoming trial by settling a civil lawsuit over Gabby's death.
The Laundrie family attorney Steven Bertolino, who was also named as a defendant in the lawsuit, confirmed the news Wednesday night.
"Christopher and Roberta Laundrie and I participated in mediation with the Petito family and the civil lawsuit has now been resolved. The terms of the resolution are confidential, and we look forward to putting this matter behind us," Bertolino said in a statement.
The civil lawsuit filed in 2022 in Sarasota County claimed Bertolino and the Laundries were already aware that Brian Laundrie had murdered Petito while the cross-country search for the missing 22-year-old was underway.
"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 so," the complaint reads.
Lawyers for Petito and Schmidt explained in the lawsuit that Bertolino acted as an agent for the Laundries, putting out multiple statements expressing "hope" that Gabby would be found and reunited with her family, "knowing full well that Gabrielle Petitio was deceased."
The lawsuit called Bertolino and the Laundries' actions "beyond outrageous" and claimed they acted with "malice or great indifference" to the rights of Petito's family.
Bertolino and the Laundries "exhibited extreme and outrageous conduct which constitutes behavior, under the circumstances, which goes beyond all possible bounds of decency and is regarded as shocking, atrocious, and utterly intolerable in a civilized community," according to the complaint.
Petito and Schmidt were seeking damages that exceeded $30,000 for their "suffering and anguish." It's not clear what amount was agreed to in the settlement.
Back in November 2022, a judge ruled in favor of Gabby Petito's family in a wrongful death lawsuit against Brian Laundrie's estate, awarding the family $3 million from his estate, court documents show.