Moab • Seventh Judicial District Court Judge Don Torgerson will hear a motion for summary judgment in a wrongful death lawsuit against the Moab Police Department filed by attorneys for Gabby Petito’s parents.
If granted, the case would essentially be dismissed — and that’s an outcome plaintiff’s attorney Brian Stewart said would not be surprising given the Government Immunity clause in Utah that shields police officers from liability in cases of assault or battery, even when they result in death.
Petito was murdered by her boyfriend Brian Laundrie in Wyoming in August of 2021. Two weeks earlier the couple was involved in a domestic violence incident in which Moab Police failed to arrest one or both of them, contrary to state domestic violence laws and department policy. They separated the two overnight to give them time to calm down.
In November of 2022, Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt, through the Salt Lake City-based Parker & McConkie, announced they would file a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against Moab Police.
Attorneys for the Moab Police Department filed the motion for summary judgment last April and Parker & McConkie filed an opposition in response in July. Torgerson will hear the motion Wednesday, Nov. 20, in Moab.
In their motion for summary judgment, attorneys for MPD argued that the Government Immunity Act of Utah “precludes Moab [Police Department] from being held liable for Laundrie’s brutal crime.”
There is a three-part test to determine if the act applies, they wrote in court documents, to assess “whether the activity undertaken is a governmental function, whether governmental immunity was waived for the particular activity; and whether there is an exception to that waiver. A straightforward application of those factors confirms that plaintiff’s claims must be dismissed.”
According to attorneys on both sides, the Utah Supreme Court has ruled in several cases that immunity applies in cases of assault, battery and even death “even if the assault or battery occurs as the result of the negligence of the state or state agent.”
Attorneys for Moab Police also argue that “even without” the Government Immunity Act of Utah, the claims against MPD should still be dismissed. They argue the plaintiffs have “repeatedly” invoked another act, the Cohabitant Abuse Procedures Act, which they claim states, “A peace officer may not be held liable in any civil action brought by a party to an incident of domestic violence for making or failing to make an arrest or for issuing of failing to issue a citation.”
They also point out that Moab Police did separate the pair for the night and that Petito’s murder occurred two weeks later, hundreds of miles away.
Parker & McConkie attorneys argued in court documents that the Government Immunity Act of Utah applies only to state entities and not municipalities.
Stewart told The Times-Independent said it’s possible Judge Torgerson could grant the MPD’s motion for summary judgment based on the Government Immunity Act of Utah, an outcome he said, “is entirely possible” given how the Utah Supreme Court has responded to similar cases in the past. If so, they then they would file an appeal on behalf of Petito’s parents, said Stewart.
This story was first published by The Times-Independent.
