Families from Camp Mystic File Lawsuit Against Texas Officials Over Evacuation Plan Issues

The families of nine young girls who tragically lost their lives in the flash flood at Camp Mystic on July 4, 2025, have initiated a federal civil rights lawsuit. They are targeting six Texas health officials, accusing them of neglecting to enforce essential evacuation protocols required for licensed youth camps.

This legal action was submitted on Monday to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division. It specifically identifies both current and former representatives from the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), including Commissioner Jennifer Shuford, in their personal capacities. The lawsuit claims these officials breached the girls’ constitutional rights by continuing to license Camp Mystic despite alleged violations of state-mandated safety regulations.

The catastrophic event claimed the lives of 27 individuals, including campers and counselors, when a torrent of floodwaters overwhelmed the historic Hill Country camp, situated along the notorious flood-prone Guadalupe River in Texas’ “Flash Flood Alley.” Dick Eastland, the camp’s owner and Executive Director, also perished while attempting to rescue a cabin full of campers, as earlier reports have indicated.

Beyond the civil rights accusations, the lawsuit introduces two claims under the Fourteenth Amendment: one based on a “state-created danger” theory and another concerning bodily integrity. Additionally, the families are pursuing damages under Texas’s wrongful death and survival statutes through this federal lawsuit.

The aftermath of the flash flood left debris strewn across Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, as seen on July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Eli Hartman)

Camp Mystic is not named as a defendant in this particular lawsuit, though it is facing separate legal action related to the flooding.

According to the complaint, Texas regulations require licensed youth camps to maintain a written disaster plan including procedures for the evacuation of each occupied building, with the plan posted in cabins and staff trained on it. The rule is described in the filing as mandatory rather than discretionary.

The lawsuit alleges DSHS adopted a longstanding internal practice of verifying only that a camp had some form of “emergency plan,” without confirming that the plan included evacuation procedures for each building.

Camp Mystic’s written flood instructions, cited in the complaint, told campers and counselors to “stay in cabins unless told otherwise.” Plaintiffs characterize that language as a “stay put” policy inconsistent with state evacuation requirements.

This aerial photo shows damage to Camp Mystic from flash floods along the Guadalupe River, in Hunt, Texas, July 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The complaint alleges that inspector Maricela Torres Zamarripa conducted annual inspections of Camp Mystic from at least 2015 through 2025. It highlights a July 5, 2024, inspection report that found “no deficiency” and alleges DSHS renewed the camp’s license for the following year based on that inspection. The camp’s current license is valid until March 6, according to the suit. 

The filing further alleges that Zamarripa visited the camp again on July 2, 2025 — two days before the flood — and that an inspection report dated July 6, 2025, also recorded “no deficiency,” even after the disaster.

According to the complaint, heavy rainfall began July 3, 2025, and a “life-threatening” flash flood warning was received by 1:14 a.m. on July 4. The lawsuit states that camp leadership initially instructed girls to remain in their cabins in accordance with the written policy.

The families allege that staff evacuated five of 11 cabins in an area known as “the flats,” a low-lying section near the river, while six cabins were not evacuated. The complaint states that most of the girls who died were housed in two cabins in that area. Evacuation efforts are described in the filing as chaotic and improvised.

Under their “state-created danger” claim, the families allege regulators created or worsened the risk by licensing and renewing the camp despite alleged regulatory violations, thereby giving parents what the complaint describes as a false sense of security.

Under the bodily integrity claim, plaintiffs argue that by licensing the camp and allegedly failing to enforce evacuation requirements, state officials effectively approved a setup that placed the girls in cabins without required evacuation protections.

Camp Mystic Director Dick Eastland died while trying to save campers during flooding in July 2025. (Reuters/Sergio Flores; LeslieEastland/Facebook)

The case raises broader legal questions about whether regulatory non-enforcement can amount to a constitutional violation and how qualified immunity protections may apply.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Texas Department of State Health Services and an attorney for the families, but neither immediately responded.

In the wake of the disaster, Texas lawmakers passed new legislation requiring camps to specify evacuation destinations, post evacuation routes inside cabins and ensure those routes are illuminated at night.

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