Brian Laundrie's Family Suffers Downfall After Judge Dismisses Request [DETAILS]
Brian Laundrie's family will face Gabby Petito's parents amid the civil lawsuit.
Petito's parents continue to seek justice for the late YouTuber months after she was killed by Laundrie. They have since filed a civil lawsuit in March, in which they claimed that Chris and Roberta Laundrie helped their son conceal the woman's murder case.
The suit also noted that they did not help locate Petito and went on vacation with Laundrie instead.
Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt also want $30,000 in damages for the mental and emotional struggles they went through because of the Laundries.
Chris and Roberta tried to request the dismissal of the lawsuit, but the judge scarred them even more.
In the filing obtained by PEOPLE, judge Hunter Carroll said that Chris and Roberta showed "extreme and outrageous conduct" that is intolerable in the community. He added that, while the Laundrie family was not required to speak, the actions they did were "callous and cruel."
"If the facts of this case were truly about silence with no affirmative action by the Laundries, the court would have resolved this case in the Laundries favor on the concept of the lack of legal duty for the Laundries to act," Carroll added. "Had the Laundries truly stayed silent, the court would have granted the motion to dismiss in the Laundries favor. But they did not stay silent."
The judge seemingly pointed at the statement the Laundries released in September before Petito's body was recovered. At that time, their lawyer said they hoped that the search for the YouTuber would be successful.
What Happens If Laundries Truly Knew About Gabby Petito's Death
In the same filing, Judge Carroll noted that Laundries surely inflicted emotional distress if Petito family's allegations about the Laundries' knowledge of her death would be proven correct.
If the court found them guilty, Chris and Roberta would reportedly be charged with being an "accessory" or "obstruction of justice."
According to Florida-based attorney John M. Phillips, the parents highly likely became accessory in Gabby Petito's murder case.
"Brian's parents don't have a duty to cooperate [with authorities] but once they do, they could be charged with obstruction of justice or lying to police if they know about where Brian is or if he told them he killed Gabby, or if they helped him escape," he told InTouch Weekly.
