In Tiede v. State, the Utah Supreme Court concluded that there was no right of action for wrongful death against a governmental entity at the time of statehood. This conclusion was not based on a complete survey of the law in 1896.
Since its founding, Utah has protected the right of family members to seek compensation from a wrongdoer whose carelessness has caused the death of their loved one. That right is recognized in Utah’s constitution, which provides that “[t]he right of action to recover damages for injuries resulting in death, shall never be abrogated, and the amount recoverable shall not be subject to any statutory limitation[.]” This language confers clear protections on a wrongful death cause of action.
But in 1965, the Utah Legislature enacted a law that prevents family members from pursuing compensation when their loved one’s death was caused by a governmental entity. Thirty years later, in 1996, the Utah Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of this statute in the case of Tiede v. State. The parents of Gabby Petito believe this case was wrongly decided.
With this in mind, they recently appealed the dismissal of their case to the Utah Supreme Court. In their appeal, they will argue that the parties in Tiede v. State did not thoroughly brief the Supreme Court on the law of wrongful death at the time of Utah’s founding. They hope that their argument will persuade the Supreme Court to overturn its precedent and return Utah to the original intent of the state’s constitution.
The Moab police’s role in Gabby Petito’s wrongful death
In the summer of 2021, Gabby Petito was traveling around the country with Brian Laundrie and documenting their adventures on social media. On August 12, 2021, they were in Moab, Utah, when they were pulled over by police, who had received reports of a man slapping a woman.
During this encounter, Gabby called her parents on the phone. While they asked her to return home, she said the police would intervene effectively on her behalf. Unfortunately, her trust was misplaced. Far from protecting Gabby, the officers misidentified her as the aggressor, put her in their vehicle, and proceeded to build rapport with Laundrie, even going so far as to joke around with him.
According to the independent investigator’s report, the police officers made several errors during this interaction. In addition, Gabby’s parents believe that the officer’s negligent handling of the situation actually elevated the risk of harm to Gabby. This will be a topic of further exploration if the Utah Supreme Court allows the case to move forward.
Gabby went missing in late August, and her parents officially filed her as a missing person on September 11, 2021. Gabby’s body was discovered about eight days later, and investigators identified strangling as the cause of her death. Laundrie wrote a letter confessing to the crime before taking his own life.

Gabby’s parents firmly believe that if Moab’s officers had followed their own department’s procedures and performed an adequate investigation, then Gabby would still be alive today. Nothing they can do will bring Gabby back. However, they do not want other parents to lose their daughters to domestic violence. For this reason, they have sued the Moab Police Department to challenge existing Utah law in the hopes that a change in the law will raise awareness and the care with which law enforcement officers investigate cases of domestic abuse.
Current status of the lawsuit
On November 20, 2024, the district court dismissed Mr. Petito and Mrs. Schmidt’s lawsuit. In so doing, the court held that Tiede v. State required him to dismiss the case. This is the result that Mr. Petito and Mrs. Schmidt have expected all along, and the necessary first step to asking the Utah Supreme Court to overturn its precedent (Tiede v. State) and recognize the constitutional right of family members to seek compensation for the death of a loved one, even when the death has been caused by governmental actors.
On December 20, 2024, Gabby’s family filed their notice of appeal to the Utah Supreme Court. In the coming days, they will ask the Utah Supreme Court to retain and decide the case (instead of having the Utah Court of Appeals review the district court’s decision). We do not know but anticipate that the Utah Supreme Court will retain the case as it directly implicates Tiede v. State — a case that it alone can overturn.
Following the dismissal of their case, Mr. Petito and Mrs. Schmidt made this statement:
“While the ruling today may feel like a setback, it was not unexpected. We never anticipated that this would be an easy process and look forward to the Utah Supreme Court upholding the Utah Constitution’s original intent to preserve the right to recover for wrongful death claims under these circumstances. We remain committed to pursuing justice for Gabby and thank the many people who have continued to support us in that fight.”
The Plaintiff’s case
In Tiede v. State, the Utah Supreme Court concluded that there was no right of action for wrongful death against a governmental entity at the time of statehood. This conclusion was not based on a complete survey of the law in 1896. A fuller look at the law leading up to the ratification of Utah’s constitution shows that it embodies the understanding that no one — whether a private citizen or governmental entity — enjoys immunity from suit when negligently causing another’s death. If this was the law recognized by Utah’s constitution, the legislature cannot cloak the government with immunity from its own negligent acts even when a person’s death results, in part, from an assault or battery by a third party. This is, however, precisely what the legislature purported to do with the passage of Utah’s Governmental Immunity Act in 1965. We firmly believe that this act–to the extent it purports to immunize governmental entities from wrongful death causes of action–is unconstitutional.
Making Utah a safer place
The path ahead will be difficult, but we believe strongly in the justice of Mr. Petito and Mrs. Schmidt’s cause. We admire their courage and resilience and applaud their commitment to seeking accountability. We feel privileged that they trust our firm to stand beside them and represent their legal interests through the challenges that lie ahead. They are paving the way to make Utah a safer place.
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