Camp Shane Lawsuit: Child Victims Act, Shutdown, and Injuries

The Camp Shane lawsuit most often asked about is Kwitko v. Camp Shane, Inc., a still-active New York case brought under the Child Victims Act alleging the weight-loss camp failed to prevent a counselor’s sexual abuse of a camper in the mid-1980s. Separately, Camp Shane shut down in 2021 after a Connecticut state investigation documented falsified medical documents, unsupervised children, and a serious head injury to an eight-year-old camper. The camp’s owner voluntarily surrendered its license that August, and the operation has not reopened.

The Child Victims Act Case

Seth Kwitko sued Camp Shane after New York’s Child Victims Act reopened the statute of limitations for childhood sexual-abuse claims. Kwitko alleges that a camp counselor named Peter Zaragoza sexually abused him during the summers of 1984 and 1985, and that Camp Shane was negligent in failing to prevent the abuse.¹

Camp Shane moved for summary judgment, arguing it had no actual or constructive knowledge of the counselor’s conduct. The camp pointed out that it was no longer operating, that its founders Selma and Irving Ettenberg were deceased, and that no records from the 1980s survived. In February 2023, a Westchester County Supreme Court judge agreed and dismissed the complaint.¹

Kwitko appealed. On February 28, 2024, the Appellate Division’s Second Department reversed. The panel ruled that Camp Shane had not established, as a threshold matter, that it lacked notice of the counselor’s alleged conduct. Summary judgment was denied and the case sent back for further proceedings.² The case remains active as of the most recent available court records.

The 2021 Connecticut Investigation and Shutdown

Camp Shane left its longtime New York home after the 2019 season and moved to Connecticut, operating in 2021 at the South Kent School. Its final summer unraveled within weeks. The camp began accepting campers around June 24, 2021, before it was licensed, and did not receive a license until a July 2 inspection by the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood.³

An OEC inspector made an unannounced visit on July 8 following a complaint.⁴ Over the next two weeks the OEC logged a dozen complaints from parents, family members, and at least one counselor, roughly half of all summer-camp complaints filed statewide that year.⁵ Camp Shane closed on July 13.

What Investigators Found

The OEC’s final report concluded there was “no leadership, minimum staffing, no specialists, and no preparation for the needs of the campers.”⁴ Specific findings included:

Medication-administration training certificates the camp submitted were fabricated. The physician whose name appeared on the documents told investigators the signature was not his.⁶
Four prescriptions of controlled substances were found on bathroom sinks, accessible to any camper.⁴
Despite marketing itself as a “medically supervised” program, the camp had no doctor and no nurse on site.⁴
Campers as young as eight were found wandering unsupervised at night and during lightning storms.⁶
Campers were pushed to exercise until they vomited, including an eight-year-old with pre-existing cardiac conditions.⁵

The Goalpost Injury

On or around July 10, 2021, an eight-year-old girl was struck by an athletic goalpost that fell on her while she was playing outside. She sustained a skull fracture, an orbital fracture, a broken nose, and a concussion.⁷ A counselor told investigators that they called 911 over David Ettenberg’s objections. The child was transported to Danbury Trauma Hospital. The state report noted that staff “could not identify what exactly occurred” during the incident.⁴

The License Surrender

David Ettenberg publicly blamed the closure on a staffing crisis, saying counselors quit over COVID-19 protocols that barred them from leaving the grounds.⁴ On July 12 the OEC referred the case to its legal division, citing 20 substantiated violations.⁷

On August 23, 2021, Ettenberg voluntarily surrendered Camp Shane’s license.⁸ He signed an affidavit denying the allegations but agreeing that if he ever sought a new license, the allegations, including missing campers and falsified documents, would be treated as true.⁵ A separate case resulted in a $1,500 civil penalty for operating without a license.⁴ Because the surrender came before the investigation formally concluded, the findings were never presented to Ettenberg as substantiated in a final proceeding.⁶

Earlier Injury Claims

The 2021 shutdown was not the first sign of trouble in Connecticut. During its inaugural Connecticut season in 2019, Camp Shane accumulated 34 licensure violations covering staff records, emergency plans, medical staffing, and communicable-disease protocols.³ That same summer, a child riding an inner tube towed behind a boat was seriously injured when a rope tangled around the child’s hands, severing a finger that had to be amputated. The family settled a lawsuit with the camp out of court.⁵

An earlier negligence action failed. In 2006, a family sued after 15-year-old Benjamin Gibbud fractured his ankle during horseplay with a camp counselor. The Sullivan County Supreme Court dismissed the case on summary judgment, and the Appellate Division affirmed in June 2006, finding that the injury resulted from the camper’s own “impulsive and reckless act” rather than negligent supervision by the camp.⁹

1
NY Courts. S.K. v. Camp Shane, Inc., 2023 NY Slip Op 32910(U)
2
NY Courts. Kwitko v. Camp Shane, Inc., Appellate Division Decision
3
Newstimes. Camp Shane Investigation Emails
4
NBC Connecticut. Camp Investigation Finds Serious Health Safety Issues
5
iHeart. Camp Shame – Episode 8: Losing Isn’t Everything
6
Newstimes. Missing Campers, Falsified Documents and Other Allegations at Camp Shane
7
Newstimes. New Records Show Connecticut Weight Loss Camp Had Serious Safety Issues
8
Connecticut OEC. Regulatory Action Report, July–September 2021
9
FindLaw. Gibbud v. Camp Shane, Inc.