- The parents of Brian Laundrie said they want the lawsuit claiming they knew Gabby Petito was killed to be thrown out.
- Petito's parents sued Laundrie's parents earlier this month, accusing them of being aware that their daughter had been killed.
- The Laundries claimed that their "silence" did not cause "emotional distress" to Petito's parents.
The parents of Brian Laundrie said they want the lawsuit against them filed by Gabby Petito's family dismissed, arguing that their "silence" did not cause them "emotional distress."
"As a matter of law, the Laundries' silence (conduct) could not form the basis of a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress," according to defense attorney Matthew Luka, NBC News reported.
Last summer, Petito, 22, and Laundrie, 23, had been documenting their cross-country road trip on social media when Laundrie returned home without Petito on September 1, prompting an FBI search for the missing 22-year old. On September 19, Petito was found dead at a Wyoming campsite. A medical examiner ruled strangulation as her cause of death in October.
In mid-September, Laundrie went missing for two weeks before his remains were found in a Florida nature preserve in October. Laundrie's death was ruled a suicide by a medical examiner. He was the FBI's sole suspect in Petito's death.
Earlier this month, Petito's parents filed a suit accusing Laundrie's parents of being aware that their daughter had been killed.
"Christopher Laundrie and Roberta Laundrie knew of the mental suffering and anguish of Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt, and knew that they could alleviate, at least in part, such mental suffering and anguish by disclosing what they knew about the well-being and the location of the remains of Gabrielle Petito, yet they repeatedly refused to do so," the lawsuit says.
The Petitos also claimed that the Laundries planned to help their son escape the country in an effort to protect him.
Petito's parents are seeking over $30,000 in damages, to which Luka argued the Laundries shouldn't be made to pay because they did not communicate with the plaintiffs nor the media regarding the case, per the NBC News report.
In a statement to CNN, Laundrie's family attorney Steven Bertolino argued that the Petitos' lawsuit was "baseless and frivolous."
"The Laundries have exercised their constitutional right to refrain from speaking and have relied on counsel to speak for them," he told CNN. "This is not only common practice in our civilized community but it embodies the exercise of fundamental rights under the United States and Florida Constitutions."
Attorneys for the Petito and Laundrie families did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.