Brian Laundrie’s family lawyer breaks silence ahead of Gabby Petito trial after parents hit with major legal set back
A LAWYER for the parents of Brian Laundrie has announced he will no longer be representing the family in an upcoming lawsuit.
Matthew Luka has been working for Chris and Roberta Laundrie since they were sued by the family of Gabby Petito.
Brian, Petito's fiancee, killed himself shortly after he was named as a suspect in her murder.
The lawsuit alleges that Chris and Roberta knew Brian killed Petito and helped him cover up the crime.
On Thursday, Luka announced that he's taken a new job and will no longer be representing the Laundries.
"The Laundries are good people, and it was my pleasure to work with them," Luka said, according to a tweet from JB Biunno, a reporter at local NBC affiliate WFLA.
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The attorney will be replaced by another lawyer named Ryan Gilbert.
"(He) will do a terrific job for them, so I know they are in good hands," Luka said.
Brian strangled Petito to death in Utah during an ill-fated four-month cross-country road trip in 2021.
After the August 28 murder, Brian drove back to his parents' home in Florida.
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Gabby Petito's parents later launched a lawsuit, set to go to trial in May 2024, accusing Chris and Roberta of causing them emotional distress.
They are seeking damages exceeding $30,000.
Steve Bertolino, another lawyer associated with the Laundrie family, is named in the suit, as well.
"(They) knew that they could prevent such additional mental suffering and anguish... by disclosing what they knew about the well-being and location of the remains of Gabrielle Petito, yet they repeatedly refused to do so," says the complaint obtained by local CBS affiliate WTSP.
The case was bolstered after Roberta's "burn after reading" letter was released to the public, said Pat Reilly, an attorney representing Petito's parents.
"Nothing can make me stop loving you, nothing will or could ever divide us," the note says.
"No matter what we do, or where we go, or what we say - we will always love each other.
"If you’re in jail, I will bake a cake with a file in it. If you need to dispose of a body, I will show up with a shovel and garbage bags."
Petito's family believes the undated note was written around the time of the victim's disappearance, as it references a shovel and burying a body.
But the Laundries have argued it was written before Petito and Brian left for their road trip.
Last year, Chris and Roberta reached a $3million settlement with Petito's family to quash a separate wrongful death lawsuit.
No criminal charges have been filed against the Laundries.
Petito's family have also sued police in Utah for $50million via another wrongful death lawsuit.
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The victim's parents allege that officers from the Moab City Police Department failed to protect their daughter from Brian during a traffic stop shortly before the murder.