The future of a summer camp hangs in the balance just under a year after July 4th catastrophic flooding killed 25 campers and two counselors at that location alone, in the Texas Hill Country. Now the owners of Camp Mystic find themselves in bankruptcy court, fighting for the camp’s future in bankruptcy court.
As The Texas Newsroom reports, Camp Mystic currently faces five lawsuits stemming from the flooding. The families suing the camp say it failed to protect their children during the disaster.
But now, Camp Mystic’s filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection has complicated the situation. Nothing related to the litigation can proceed until there's a further order of the bankruptcy court.
Attorney Sam Taylor represents some of the families suing the camp. He says the bankruptcy filing has paused all legal action. “It's difficult to tell at this time how long it will last, I mean it could be weeks or months.”
The 27 deaths at Camp Mystic were among the more than 130 across the region during last year's July 4th flash flooding. In a typical Chapter 11 bankruptcy, such a filing allows a business to keep its doors open while court-supervised reorganization takes place. But Camp Mystic stayed closed this summer. That decision followed not only concerns about the camp’s emergency preparedness.
In April, during a legislative hearing, an investigator testified that Camp Mystic had no written evacuation plan for flash flooding and that counselors lacked emergency training.
Camp Mystic made headlines this spring when it filed to renew its license and reopen a newer portion of the camp on higher ground. But then came word from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick that the state health department was reviewing “hundreds of complaints” [of neglect] filed about the care of children at Camp Mystic, with help from the Texas Rangers in a criminal investigation. Patrick repeatedly urged state officials to deny the license renewal.
