Five wrongful death lawsuits against Camp Mystic are pending in Travis County District Court, filed on behalf of 26 families whose daughters or counselors died in the July 4, 2025 Guadalupe River flood. District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble has set staggered trials for June 21, 2027 and October 11, 2027, and no case has settled. The families accuse the camp’s owners and management of failing to evacuate children after flash flood warnings, of housing campers in cabins within a federally designated flood hazard area, and of petitioning FEMA to erase those cabins from official floodplain maps in the years before the disaster.
What the Families Allege
The core allegation across the suits is that Camp Mystic’s leadership had hours of warning and did nothing useful with them. A flood warning was already in effect for Kerr County the night of July 3. At 1:14 a.m. on July 4, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for the area around the Guadalupe River. Camp director Dick Eastland acknowledged the rising water roughly 30 minutes later but did not order an evacuation. At about 2:37 a.m., he drove counselors back to their cabins and told them to “stay put,” suggesting they use towels to manage water seeping inside. An evacuation was not attempted until roughly 2:55 a.m., more than 90 minutes after the initial warning.1Fox 4 News. Texas Camp Mystic Flood Investigation Preventable Deaths By then the river had risen about 26 feet in 45 minutes.2NBC DFW. North Texas Camp Mystic Flood Victims
Twenty-five campers and two counselors died. Dick Eastland, age 74, also died; his vehicle was later found pinned against a tree.3WJCL. Guadalupe River Flood Camp Mystic Dick Eastland Eight-year-old Cile Steward remains missing and is presumed dead.4NBC News. Parents of Camp Mystic Camper Still Missing Fear Daughter Cile May Never Be Found Night watchman Glenn Juenke testified that he received no evacuation orders from camp leadership and moved campers to higher ground on his own initiative. If staff had used speakers or walkie-talkies to warn everyone before 3 a.m., he told the court, the 27 who died would have survived.5People. Night Watchman Admits 27 Campers Counselors Killed in Flood Would Have Survived If Camp Did One Obvious Thing
A second track of the litigation focuses on how the cabins came to sit where they did. Several of the most damaged structures were located inside the Guadalupe’s regulatory floodways, the zones federal maps identify as the most dangerous and first to flood.3WJCL. Guadalupe River Flood Camp Mystic Dick Eastland Camp Mystic successfully petitioned FEMA three times to remove buildings from its 100-year floodplain map. In 2013, FEMA removed 15 buildings at the main site. In 2019 and 2020, another 15 structures were removed at the sister campus, Camp Mystic Cypress Lake.6PBS NewsHour. Camp Mystic Appealed to Remove Buildings From FEMA’s 100-Year Flood Map, Records Show The plaintiffs allege the Eastland family sought those removals to reduce insurance costs and preserve the camp’s marketing as “safe,” and that parents were never told their daughters were sleeping inside a Special Flood Hazard Area.7Lanier Law Firm. Families of Six Girls File Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Camp Mystic Following Deadly July Flood
Who Sued, and When
The Lanier Law Firm filed the first major suit on November 11, 2025, in Travis County District Court on behalf of six families whose daughters died at the camp: Virginia “Wynne” Naylor, Hadley Hanna, and Jane “Janie” Hunt of Dallas; Lucy Dillon of Houston; Kellyanne Lytal of San Antonio; and Virginia Hollis of Bellville. The claims include wrongful death, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, and failure to warn. The families seek actual and exemplary damages and want a court to order safety and emergency preparedness changes for Texas youth camps.8Click2Houston. Families of Victims File Lawsuit Against Camp Mystic Over Deadly Flash Flood
On February 4, 2026, the parents of Cile Steward filed a separate suit in the 200th Judicial District Court of Travis County, adding claims for gross negligence and premises liability. The named defendants include Camp Mystic LLC, Natural Fountains Properties Inc. (doing business as Camp Mystic Inc.), the Mystic Camps Family Partnership, Mystic Camps Management LLC, and individual Eastland family members Willetta, Edward, and Mary Eastland.9Kerr County Lead. Plaintiffs’ Application for Temporary Restraining Order and Temporary Injunction The Stewards sought and obtained emergency relief to block the camp from reopening or renovating in ways that could destroy physical evidence, alleging Camp Mystic had already begun removing communications equipment, obscuring high-water marks, and installing new structures.10Houston Public Media. Parents of Missing Camp Mystic Camper Sue Camp, Seek to Preserve Evidence
By early 2026, four suits covering 26 families had been filed, with at least three seeking more than $1 million each in damages for mental anguish and related claims.11CNN. Camp Mystic Texas Flooding Lawsuits A fifth suit was filed before the April 2026 hearings. All five are before Judge Gamble, who declined to consolidate them into a single proceeding.12Kerr County Lead. Camp Mystic Hearing Concludes With Judge’s Rebuke, Strengthened Preservation Order, and 2027 Trial Dates
How Camp Mystic Is Defending Itself
Camp Mystic and the Eastland family are being represented pro bono by prominent Texas plaintiff’s trial lawyer Mikal Watts. Watts said he initially began investigating the flood to identify fault for possible plaintiffs’ litigation but concluded after his review that “no one is to blame.”13Houston Chronicle. Camp Mystic Failed Nobody Publicly, he has said “no jury in America will hold Camp Mystic responsible,” framing the deaths as the result of an infrastructure failure rather than camp conduct.14Texas Lawbook. Mikal Watts: No Jury in America Will Hold Camp Mystic Responsible
The defense calls the July 4 flood a “thousand-year” event that was unprecedented and unforeseeable.15Houston Public Media. Camp Mystic Lawsuit Texas Hill Country Flood13Houston Chronicle. Camp Mystic Failed Nobody11CNN. Camp Mystic Texas Flooding Lawsuits3WJCL. Guadalupe River Flood Camp Mystic Dick Eastland16ABC News. Internal Texts Emails Show Confusion Concern
Where the Case Stands Now
On March 4, 2026, Judge Gamble issued a temporary injunction barring Camp Mystic from demolishing, repairing, or reconstructing flood-damaged cabins, grounds, office buildings, the recreation hall, and the commissary along the Guadalupe River, to preserve evidence for the litigation. The order did not block reopening at the unaffected Cypress Lake campus, and the camp appealed.17Texas Tribune. Texas Floods Kerr County Camp Mystic Lawsuit Ruling18CNN. Texas Camp Mystic Hearing Testimony
Three days of evidentiary hearings followed in Austin in mid-April 2026. Camp director Edward Eastland took the stand for nearly five hours, and members of the Eastland family acknowledged that they failed to warn campers and counselors of rising floodwaters and weather warnings.19CNN. Camp Mystic Decision Flood Construction The court heard audio of a stranded camper speaking to a 911 dispatcher, and Juenke described girls “hanging on for their lives.”12Kerr County Lead. Camp Mystic Hearing Concludes With Judge’s Rebuke, Strengthened Preservation Order, and 2027 Trial Dates
The judge kept the preservation injunction in place and added language stating that the defendants “potentially violated the Texas Administrative Code by failing to maintain a written evacuation plan.” That finding matters because it opens the door to negligence per se, a theory under which violating a safety statute can establish duty and breach as a matter of law. She also canceled the original 2028 trial setting and moved the case up, scheduling staggered trials for June 21, 2027 and October 11, 2027.12Kerr County Lead. Camp Mystic Hearing Concludes With Judge’s Rebuke, Strengthened Preservation Order, and 2027 Trial Dates
The proceedings have grown heated. Judge Gamble rebuked both legal teams over what she called “extraordinary acrimony,” and reports surfaced that defense attorney Thomas C. Wright told plaintiffs’ lawyers they would “burn in hell” after a court session. Plaintiffs’ counsel later played video of the remark; Wright’s co-counsel called it a “slip of the tongue.”20San Antonio Express-News. Camp Mystic Families Ask Judge for Severe Sanctions
The Arbitration Fight That Could Decide Everything
On March 24, 2026, Camp Mystic filed motions to compel all five lawsuits into private arbitration, relying on arbitration clauses in the registration agreements families signed when enrolling their daughters. Those agreements warned of risks including floods, errors of judgment, and careless conduct.21Houston Public Media. Camp Mystic Lawsuits Arbitration Texas Floods Lead plaintiffs’ attorney Brad Beckworth called the pivot a “bait and switch,” pointing out that Watts had previously told the court “it is time for the story to get out.”22KXAN. Heaven’s 27 Families Fight for a Public Trial, Camp Mystic Fights for Arbitration
On May 13, 2026, the day the judge was scheduled to rule, the defense withdrew the original motions and filed nearly identical amended versions, delaying proceedings by almost a month. Watts was absent, reportedly attending a wedding in Italy, prompting Judge Gamble to order that every defendant have an attorney present at every future hearing.23Kerr County Lead. Camp Mystic Attorneys Pull Midnight Maneuver, Avoid Arbitration Ruling as Lead Counsel Skips Hearing20San Antonio Express-News. Camp Mystic Families Ask Judge for Severe Sanctions
At the June 10, 2026 hearing, the defense argued the arbitration clauses are enforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act because enrollment was completed through a Colorado-based internet portal, making it an interstate transaction.22KXAN. Heaven’s 27 Families Fight for a Public Trial, Camp Mystic Fights for Arbitration The plaintiffs countered that the transaction was intrastate, that the Texas Arbitration Act applies, and that personal-injury arbitration agreements require attorney signatures the camp’s contracts lack. For counselors Chloe Childress and Katherine Ferruzzo, the defense pointed to arbitration clauses in camper agreements they had signed as minors in 2024, arguing those clauses survived. The plaintiffs responded that the counselors’ 2025 employment agreements, which contain no arbitration clause, supersede the earlier contracts.24Kerr County Lead. Camp Mystic Arbitration Battle Plays Out Over Morning of Legal Argument in Austin As of the last reporting, Judge Gamble had taken the motions under consideration, with a follow-up hearing set for July 15, 2026. Whether the case reaches a public jury or gets pushed behind closed doors turns on that ruling.
Investigations and Licensing Outside the Civil Suits
Two other proceedings sit alongside the wrongful death cases but are separate from them. The Texas Rangers joined an investigation by the Department of State Health Services in April 2026 after the agency received “hundreds of complaints” about Camp Mystic’s operations. No criminal charges have been filed, and it remains unclear who might face them or what those charges would be.25KSAT. Texas Rangers Join Criminal Investigation Into Camp Mystic Neglect Allegations A joint committee of state House and Senate legislators is running its own review of the broader flood response.26Texas Tribune. Texas Rangers DSHS Camp Mystic Investigation
On April 30, 2026, Camp Mystic withdrew its application for a summer 2026 operating license with DSHS. The Eastland family said the decision was made so that “no administrative process or summer season should move forward while families continue to grieve.” The Steward family called it a “calculated exit” ahead of what they described as an imminent denial, noting that DSHS had already cited the camp for nearly two dozen deficiencies under new state safety laws passed after the flood.27KSAT. Camp Mystic Won’t Reopen This Summer, Withdraws Its Application to Renew License Those laws, signed by Governor Greg Abbott on September 5, 2025, require youth camps to keep and update emergency plans, notify parents in writing of any structure sitting within a floodplain, and, going forward, prohibit DSHS from licensing camps with cabins inside FEMA-designated floodplains.28New York Times. Texas Summer Camp Safety Rules The same Texas Administrative Code obligations underlie the plaintiffs’ negligence-per-se theory in the civil cases.