HUNT, Texas – As Camp Mystic prepares to auction off its land as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, leaders said it hopes a judge will prioritize bids that will “maintain the historic mission of the camp.”
The request was included in a liquidation plan filed by Camp Mystic on Friday, in which it stated its intent to sell “substantially all of its assets.” In that plan, Camp Mystic said it anticipates a group of families and alumni will place a bid to purchase the land in order to continue operating it as a camp. The filing did not list the names of those families.
Abigail Willie, an assistant professor of law at St. Mary’s University, described the request as “highly unusual.”
“The standard for the winning bid price in a bankruptcy auction is generally understood to be who brings the most money to the table,” Willie said. “The question is never who does the debtor want to sell it to? That’s not relevant.”
The Texas Department of State Health Services already denied Camp Mystic a license to operate, and any new owner would be required to reapply for such a license.
Proceeds from the land sale would go into a trust and then be distributed to creditors, according to court filings, with most of the money likely to go to the parents of children who died in flooding.
The journey to distributing those funds is likely a long one, though.
Parents must first seek judgments in state court, which will determine how much Camp Mystic owes for their child’s wrongful death. Any judgments beyond the camp’s insurance limits would be paid as a percentage of the available funds based on the size of the claim.
The plan must still be approved by a bankruptcy judge.
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