The families of seven campers and two counselors who died in the catastrophic flooding that swept through Camp Mystic this summer are suing the Texas camp and its owners, accusing them of gross negligence, according to three lawsuits filed Monday.
One lawsuit was filed by the families of five campers and two counselors who perished in the July 4 tragedy: Anna Margaret Bellows, Lila Bonner, Chloe Childress, Molly DeWitt, Katherine Ferruzzo, Lainey Landry and Blakely McCrory.
A second lawsuit was filed by the family of Eloise “Lulu” Peck, an 8-year-old who also died in the disaster, an attorney for the family said.
The third lawsuit was filed by the family of 9-year-old Ellen Getten.
Each lawsuit seeks more than $1 million in damages.
They mark the first legal action taken by victims’ families against the camp since the flooding that claimed their daughters’ lives.
The lawsuits’ defendants include Camp Mystic and members of the Eastland family, which owns the 99-year-old camp in Kerr County, Texas. CNN is reaching out to representatives for Camp Mystic and the Eastland family for their responses to the lawsuits.
More than two dozen campers and staffers – the “Heaven’s 27,” as they are known – died in the predawn hours of July 4 after torrential rainfall caused flash flooding at the century-old summer camp in Texas Hill Country.
Many of the youngest victims were housed in cabins along the banks of the Guadalupe River.
Richard “Dick” Eastland, who co-owned the all-girls Christian camp with his wife, Tweety, died while he was trying to save some of the girls, a family spokesperson has said.
The flooding killed at least 136 people across the region, as parts of the Guadalupe River rose from about 3 feet to almost 30 feet in just 45 minutes.
The first lawsuit, filed by the families of five campers and two counselors, accuses Camp Mystic of not having adequate safety plans and prioritizing money over safety.
“Today, campers Margaret, Lila, Molly, Lainey, and Blakely should be third graders, and counselors Chloe and Katherine should be freshmen at the University of Texas. They all are gone,” the lawsuit states.
“These young girls died because a for-profit camp put profit over safety,” the filing says. “The Camp chose to house young girls in cabins sitting in flood-prone areas, despite the risk, to avoid the cost of relocating the cabins. The Camp chose not to make plans to safely evacuate its campers and counselors from those cabins, despite state rules requiring evacuation plans, and not to spend time and money on safety training and tools.”
“On July 4, the Camp chose to take no steps to protect its campers and counselors while it knew a storm and ‘life threatening flash flooding’ were approaching,” the first lawsuit states. “Instead, with the river rising, the Camp chose to direct its groundskeepers to spend over an hour evacuating camp equipment, not its campers and counselors. The Camp chose not to evacuate its campers and counselors, even as floodwater reached the cabins, until counselors demanded it.”
The “Camp chose not to evacuate the Bubble Inn and Twins cabins when other campers and counselors had been moved to safe, higher ground just 300 feet away,” the suit says. “Instead, the Camp chose to order its campers and counselors to remain in the Bubble Inn and Twins cabins while the flood waters overwhelmed the camp. Finally, when it was too late, the Camp made a hopeless ‘rescue’ effort from its self-created disaster in which 25 campers, two counselors, and the Camp director died.”
“We carry the memory of our daughter in everything we do. This legal step is one of honoring her, and we believe that truth and justice are essential to finding peace – not only for our family, but for every family affected,” said Ryan DeWitt, who lost his daughter, Molly.
The second lawsuit, filed by the family of Eloise “Lulu” Peck, accused Camp Mystic of “gross negligence” by “failing to implement modern safety measures or update its own flood protocols in light of known dangers.”
“These terrifying last moments and then deaths were proximately caused by the negligence and gross negligence of Defendants,” the filing says.
“Defendants knew that camp facilities were located in a flood zone, knew of the history of flash flooding in Kerr County, knew of repeated prior flood events at the Camp, and received warnings from family members about flood risk.”
A third lawsuit was filed by the parents of Ellen, one of the youngest girls at the camp and who was housed at Bubble Inn cabin.
The lawsuit alleges the camp’s directors and owners should have been aware of an emergency response activation in the area ahead of the major flooding and should have been on “high alert.”
The defendants had enough time to evacuate all the campers and prevent injuries and death, the lawsuit alleges.
“At the very least, Camp Mystic had more than enough time to train, educate, and instruct counselors and campers alike of a true evacuation plan should the weather continue to grow in severity through the day and into the night,” the lawsuit states. “However, the Defendants chose to do nothing after this alert to protect Ellen’s and the other campers’ lives.”
Additionally, a plan to evacuate the campers came more than 12 hours after a flash flood warning, the lawsuit alleges. That plan was “wholly inadequate and purposefully left some of the youngest children in Bubble Inn completely stranded without instruction, direction, or adult emergency assistance before their tragic deaths,” according to the lawsuit.
“The Camp’s failure to act led to utter chaos and mass panic,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuits seek a jury trial in Travis County District Court. And they demand compensation for “mental anguish,” among other damages.
CNN has reached out to Camp Mystic attorney Mikal Watts for comment on the lawsuits.
In an interview with CNN last month, Watts addressed some of the questions and concerns that had been raised by families.
He said the first warning came at 1:14 a.m., but “there’s some question as to who got it and who didn’t, because this is a very remote area with limited cell phone coverage.”
At 1:47 a.m., co-owner Dick Eastland and his son Edward “immediately convened the ground crew and started securing equipment, started coming up with a plan at about 2” a.m., Watts said.
“At about 2:19, we got the first information that one of the houses was having water coming,” he said.
Before 3 a.m., “there was a very orderly evacuation process of 10 different camps or cabins,” Watts said.
He also challenged the notion that evacuating children during flash flooding is always the best option.
“You shelter in place. That’s first and foremost what you ought to do,” Watts said.
“Do not take 9-year-old girls who weigh 63 pounds on average into raging floodwaters. They’re going to get washed away.”
Anger and grief lead to change
The deaths at Camp Mystic have led to sharp questions from parents and lawmakers about the camp’s safety and evacuation plan in an area known to flood on a regular basis.
“Obvious commonsense safety measures were absent. Protocols that should have been in place were ignored,” said CiCi Williams Steward, the mother of 8-year-old Cile, who remains missing. “She was stolen from her family, from her future, from the world she lit up with her independence and spunk.”
In September, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed tougher camp safety laws that require local governments to install outdoor sirens and warning systems in flood-prone areas.
Last month, the Camp Mystic attorney offered an in-depth timeline of how camp leaders responded to the flood warnings and rising waters. They safely evacuated 166 girls thanks to their quick efforts, Watts said.
“This was an unprecedented, once-in-a-thousand-year event, that nobody thought was even possible,” he said. “It’s never happened before.”
Camp Mystic has announced plans to partially reopen this coming summer for its 100th anniversary. The section of the camp close to the Guadalupe River will remain closed. The more recent expansion, which sits uphill and was not damaged in the flooding, will reopen.
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