HUNT, Texas – The legal battle following the deadly flood at Camp Mystic is entering a new phase as the camp asks a bankruptcy judge to extend legal protections to members of the Eastland family, which has owned and operated the camp for nearly four decades.
Camp Mystic is requesting that individual members of the Eastland family be protected from being sued personally while the camp’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case moves forward — a move that could significantly shape how victims’ families are able to pursue their claims.
The request comes after families who lost children in the July 4, 2025 flood filed lawsuits accusing Camp Mystic operators of negligence and wrongful death. The flood swept through the South Fork of the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, killing 25 campers, two counselors and longtime camp director and co-owner Richard “Dick” Eastland. The victims have been collectively referred to in court documents as “Heaven’s 27.”
When Camp Mystic filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 24, 2026, most lawsuits against the camp were automatically paused under federal bankruptcy law. That legal protection, known as an automatic stay, is a standard part of the bankruptcy process and prevents creditors and plaintiffs from pursuing claims against a company while it reorganizes.
Camp Mystic is now asking the court to extend that same protection to individual members of the Eastland family, who did not personally file for bankruptcy. The individuals named in the Aug. 5 court filing include Willetta “Tweety” Eastland, co-owner and executive director of the camp; George Albritton Eastland, personal representative of Dick Eastland’s estate; Edward S. Eastland and Mary E. “Mary Liz” Eastland, directors of the camp’s Guadalupe River campus; and William Neely Bonner III, president of Natural Fountains Properties, Inc., the company that owns the land where the camp operates.
In court filings, Camp Mystic argues the protections would help create a more organized process for resolving claims and allow all legal disputes to be handled through bankruptcy court rather than through separate lawsuits spread across multiple courts.
The camp said the request is not an attempt to avoid responsibility, but rather a way to address all claims through the bankruptcy proceedings in a single forum.
The camp also argued that allowing individual lawsuits against the Eastland family members to proceed could drain the $6 million liability insurance coverage that was available during the deadly event. Because several of the Eastland family members are covered under Camp Mystic’s insurance policies, any judgments against them individually could reduce the pool of money available to pay claims to the families.
Additionally, the camp warned that legal findings made in separate court, without Camp Mystic’s direct participation, could create binding legal precedents that would negatively impact the bankruptcy case.
At least five lawsuits were filed before the bankruptcy filing, accusing camp operators of negligence, wrongful death, premises liability, intentional infliction of emotional distress, breach of fiduciary duty and failure to warn, among other claims. Camp Mystic moved those cases to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, where they remain pending. The camp has also filed a motion to transfer the cases to Houston, where the bankruptcy cases were filed.
Along with seeking legal protections for the Eastland family, Camp Mystic is also asking the families involved in the lawsuits and an official committee of parents who lost children in the flood to participate in mediation.
The goal of those discussions would be to work toward a reorganization plan as part of the bankruptcy process and determine whether the parties can reach a resolution without prolonged litigation. If the families decline to participate in voluntary mediation, Camp Mystic said it intends to ask the bankruptcy court to require it.
A bankruptcy judge will now decide whether legal protections should be extended to the Eastland family members — a ruling that could determine the pace and direction of the legal proceedings for months to come.
The lawsuits themselves are not erased by the bankruptcy filing. The claims remain active and will ultimately need to be resolved, either through a negotiated settlement, a reorganization plan approved by the court, or litigation. The central question before the judge is not whether the families can pursue their claims, but where and how those claims will be heard.
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