Two negligence lawsuits against French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts in Hancock, New York are publicly documented: a 1985 go-kart injury case that produced a 1989 appellate ruling on where camp injury suits must be filed, and a 2024 negligent supervision case brought on behalf of a minor camper that is still pending in Kings County Supreme Court.
The 2024 Negligent Supervision Case
On March 31, 2024, Yelena Kleyner sued French Woods Performing Arts Camp Inc. and French Woods Realty Co. LLC on behalf of her minor daughter, identified in filings as M.K. The case sits in Kings County Supreme Court under index number 509079/2024 and is classified as “Torts – Other Negligence” tied to camp supervision.1Trellis Law. K., M. v. French Woods Performing Arts Camp Inc. et al
The publicly available filings do not describe the underlying incident or the nature of the alleged injuries. What the record does show is procedural: Judge Leon Ruchelsman signed a scheduling order on June 4, 2024, and the case later appeared before Judge Joy F. Campanelli. By November 2024, counsel on both sides were exchanging revised documents and a request for oral argument. The plaintiff is represented by the Law Offices of Elliott Katsnelson; the defense by Gina M. Arnedos and Taylor Hays Conroy.2Trellis Law. K., M. v. French Woods Performing Arts Camp Inc. – Order/Preliminary Conference The case remained active as of the most recent available filings.
Buhler v. French Woods Festival (1989)
The earlier documented suit began on June 26, 1985, when David Buhler, a minor, fractured his femur operating a go-kart at the camp. The injury required surgery at Crouse Irving Memorial Hospital. His mother, Judith Buhler, filed a personal injury and negligence action against the camp’s corporate entities on or about March 17, 1986.3CaseMine. Buhler v. French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts, Inc., 155 A.D.2d 306
The appeal that produced a published opinion was not about whether the camp was negligent. It was about where the case could be heard. The Buhlers, Florida residents, filed in Manhattan. French Woods argued that Delaware County, where the camp sits and the accident happened, was the proper venue. The Appellate Division, First Department, agreed and reversed the lower court’s refusal to transfer.
Two points drove the ruling. The enrollment agreement Judith Buhler signed required disputes to be litigated in the Village of Hancock Justice Court or the Delaware County courts. She argued her son, a minor, could not be bound by a contract he had not signed. The court rejected that argument, holding that the child was a third-party beneficiary of the enrollment contract and was subject to its terms. The court also found no meaningful tie to New York County: the accident, the camp, and the camp’s only New York office were all in Delaware County.3CaseMine. Buhler v. French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts, Inc., 155 A.D.2d 306
How the underlying negligence claim was resolved after transfer is not in the public record. The venue holding, however, still matters for families weighing where to sue a New York camp: a forum-selection clause in the enrollment paperwork can bind the child, not just the parent who signed.
How New York Judges Camp Negligence
Both cases sit inside the same legal framework. Under New York law, a summer camp stands in loco parentis while children are in its care and owes a duty of adequate supervision. Camps are not insurers of camper safety, and courts do not expect every movement to be monitored. Liability attaches only where an injury was foreseeable and proximately caused by inadequate supervision.4French Woods Festival. French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts
That standard is what a plaintiff in a case like M.K.’s has to meet, and it is why the enrollment contract in Buhler mattered so much before the merits were ever reached. The paperwork a parent signs at enrollment can decide the courthouse before it decides anything else.