Where is Brian Laundrie's family now? Parents ask court to protect them from 'annoyance, embarrassment'
NORTH PORT, FLORIDA: Brian Laundrie's parents have filed a request to "protect [against] annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, undue burden, and expense.” According to the allegations made by Gabby Petito's parents, Laundrie's parents did not reveal his whereabouts and they were allegedly making arrangements for him to leave the country while the 22-year-old was missing.
Laundrie's parents Christopher and Roberta, were sued by Petito's parents, Joseph and Nichole Schmidt on March 11, which was later amended on April 28 where the Laundries were accused of causing several torts including pain and suffering, mental anguish, inconvenience and loss of capacity for enjoyment of life.
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According to Law&Crime, the request, which is technically a motion for a protective order, said that according to Florida law, the Laundries were allowed to save themselves from being grilled under oath about "irrelevant matters."
The order appeared to speak to the public rather than the judge who will be deciding it. The Laundries' lawyer recalled the four elements of the most prominent of the claims alleged and said that the depositions, which were currently scheduled for Thursday, December 1, should focus only on "relevant" issues. According to the outlet, the order raises questions as to what exactly was "relevant", that it somewhat, not entirely, narrows the field of inquiry.
Themotion states, "[T]he focus of discovery should be limited in scope to the time period of August 27, 2021, through September 19, 2021, the time period between the death of Ms. Petito and when her body was found as alleged in the Amended Complaint, and further limited to information related to the outward actions or comments of the Defendants during that time period."
As per the civil lawsuit allegations, Laundrie told his parents about murdering Petito on August 28, 2021, which was the same day the Laundries spoke with attorney Steve Bertolino and he was sent a retainer on September 2, 2021. According to the Petitos' allegations, the Laundries took a vacation despite knowing about Petito's death. The Laundries had also released a statement through their lawyer that stated Petito was found during the multi-state search and was reunited with her family.