Camp Mystic, the Texas girls camp where 28 people were killed in flash floods last summer, will use its bankruptcy case to resolve wrongful death claims filed against the family-owned company.
“We acknowledge the pain and suffering and anguish,” caused by the deaths, Martin Sosland, a lawyer for Camp Mystic, said during a bankruptcy court hearing on Tuesday. The goal of the Chapter 11 filing is to equitably resolve financial claims against the camp, including those filed by the families of the girls who died, he said.
Jason Brookner, a lawyer representing a group of two dozen families, called the camp’s bankruptcy filing “nothing more than a litigation tactic,” during the hearing, and said there’s no debate that Camp Mystic’s owners are liable for the deaths of the campers and counselors.
Related: Camp Mystic, Where Texas Floods Killed 28, Files Bankruptcy
“The testimony outside of this court show no real debate that the debtors are liable for deaths. The camp is located in what is known as flash flood alley,” Brookner said.
Investigations of the disaster show there was an “entirely avoidable loss of life at Camp Mystic,” said Marty Brimmage, an attorney for the parents of two girls who died last summer.
Under bankruptcy court rules, any lawsuits against the camp are temporarily halted in order to give the business a chance to reorganize. Companies sometimes file for bankruptcy protection so they can try to negotiate a deal to settle lawsuits instead of facing a civil jury trial.
Lawyers who sued the camp and its owners vowed to be involved in the insolvency case and to protect the rights of the families of the girls who died in the flood.
Read more: Camp Mystic Girls’ Deaths Darken Cherished Texas Rite of Passage
State lawmakers have blasted local officials and the camp’s owners over their handling of the disaster. The Christian camp, which caters to affluent families, is set in a rural stretch of central Texas with spotty cell phone reception and limited infrastructure, which complicated the response to the sudden flooding last year.
In terms of assets, the camp has more than $4 million, rights to insurance proceeds and 725 acres of land along the Guadalupe River in Texas, Camp Mystic Chief Restructuring Officer Karen Nicolaou — who attended the camp as a girl — testified during Tuesday’s hearing. US Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez agreed to allow a handful of workers who are helping maintain the campgrounds to be paid.
The company will return to court in the coming days to seek permission to keep paying other bills.
Camp Mystic filed for bankruptcy last week in Houston, listing assets between $1 million and $10 million and liabilities in the range of $10 million to $50 million, court documents show.
The camp in the Texas Hill Country had initially been allowed to partially re-open this summer, but those plans were scrapped following days of dramatic hearings.
The Texas Department of State Health Services said in April that the camp withdrew its application to renew its license for this summer. The agency had previously said that Camp Mystic’s emergency plan failed to address several new rules passed after the July 4 floods, which killed a total of more than 160 people, including 37 children.
The case is Camp Mystic LLC, number 26—90621, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Top photo: Camp Mystic following flash flooding in Hunt, Texas, on July 5. Photographer: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images. Bloomberg.
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