Holding a handkerchief embroidered with her daughter’s name, CiCi Steward listens to testimony along with her husband, Will, during a court hearing in Austin on their lawsuit against Camp Mystic. Their daughter, Cile, 8, died in the July 4 flash flood at the camp.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
Edward Eastland breaks down as he’s comforted by his mother, Willetta “Tweety” Eastland, right, during a court hearing on a lawsuit over the deadly July 4 flash flood at Camp Mystic. At left is his wife, Mary Liz Eastland. Members of the Eastland clan have run the Hill Country camp for three generations.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
State District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble swears in a witness during a hearing in Austin on a lawsuit filed against Camp Mystic over the deadly July 4 flash flood.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
A state district judge in Austin has ordered Camp Mystic and family members who run the Hill Country retreat not to alter, repair or demolish cabins that housed campers and counselors who died in the July 4 Hill Country flood.
Judge Maya Guerra Gamble granted a new temporary injunction against Camp Mystic on Thursday after listening to three days of emotional testimony about the flash flood that killed 25 girls, two counselors and one of the owners of the century-old Christian summer camp, which sits on the south fork of the Guadalupe River 18 miles southwest of Kerrville.
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The judge said Will and CiCi Steward of Austin — the parents of 8-year-old Cile Steward, who died in the disaster — had demonstrated a probable right to the relief sought in their lawsuit against Camp Mystic and members of the Eastland family who own and operate the camp.
“This finding is supported by facts tending to show that defendants owed a duty of care to Cile Steward and other minor campers, which they breached by operating Camp Mystic in a high-risk zone without adequate flood protections,” Guerra Gamble wrote.
The injunction will remain in place until the Stewards’ lawsuit is resolved or the court instructs otherwise. The judge set a trial date of May 3, 2027, nearly a year earlier than the original date.
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In her ruling, the judge said the defendants “potentially violated” a section of the Texas Administrative Code “by failing to maintain a written evacuation plan or provide documented safety training which supports a finding of negligence per se.”
The section of state law she cited requires Texas youth camps to have a written plan for responding to a disaster, serious accident, epidemic or fatality.
It requires Texas youth camps to have procedures for emergency shelter and for evacuating each occupied building and facility. It also mandates that campers be instructed on what actions to take in the event of a fire, disaster or other incident requiring an evacuation.
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The judge wrote that the Stewards would suffer injury before their case goes to trial unless Camp Mystic, the Eastlands and other defendants were immediately barred from conducting certain activities at the camp’s Guadalupe River campus, where the flood victims died on July 4.
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“The threatened harm is imminent because plaintiffs have presented evidence that defendants are presently engaged in material alterations to the Camp Mystic site,” Guerra Gamble wrote. “The court finds this injury to be irreparable because once this physical evidence is altered or destroyed, it cannot be recreated, and no adequate remedy exists to restore the evidence or eliminate the resulting prejudice to the plaintiffs.”
The judge ordered Camp Mystic, the Eastlands and other parties not to alter or demolish a list of cabins that includes Bubble Inn, Twins I and II, Bug House, Look Inn, Hangout, Tumble Inn I and II, Nut Hut, Chatterbox, Wiggle Inn, Giggle Box and Jumble House.
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The July 4 flash flood killed 13 campers and two counselors in Bubble Inn, along with 11 campers in the Twins I and II cabin, where Cile Steward had been staying.
Another victim, Greta Toranzo, 10, of Houston, was being evacuated when she went back to Jumble House to retrieve a pillow, according to testimony at this week’s hearing. She was overtaken by high water and died.
Also killed in the flood was Richard G. “Dick” Eastland, 70, the family patriarch and a co-owner and co-director of the camp.
READ MORE: Camp Mystic’s chief health officer says she didn’t know about flood alerts
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The injunction forbids the defendants from making any changes to the physical features of the cabins, such as elevations, the locations of communication systems and flood watermark lines.
The defendants also cannot make any changes to Camp Mystic Gaudalupe River’s main office building, recreation hall, dining hall, commissary and other buildings.
The Stewards’ attorneys presented evidence and testimony during the hearing indicating that some of those buildings had already been altered, despite a previous injunction temporarily prohibiting such activities.
Guerra Gamble’s new order prevents the defendants from using Camp Mystic Guadalupe River’s cabins and buildings for any camp operations.
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It also forbids reshaping the topography, using heavy machinery to modify the terrain surrounding the Bubble Inn and Twins I and II cabins and altering access routes leading from those cabins to higher ground.
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The Stewards’ case is one of five lawsuits filed against Camp Mystic, the Eastlands and related parties by parents of campers and counselors who died in the July 4 flood.
Cile Steward is the only Camp Mystic victim whose remains haven’t been found.
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The judge told all attorneys involved in the lawsuits that she will permit teens and children to be subjected to pretrial depositions no more than one time each.
“We are not deposing teenage girls or children more than once,” Guerra Gamble said in court Wednesday. “We’re just not. We’re going to do it right. We’re going to do it with quality court reporters and quality video.”
She also indicated that teens and children will not be called to testify during the trials and that attorneys can use their deposition testimony instead.
“I can’t imagine the argument that would convince me to bring any children into this court … We can depose them because we don’t have a choice,” the judge said.
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Camp Mystic was founded in 1926 and has been run by the Eastland clan for three generations.
Over the years, it developed a devoted following among well-to-do families, mainly from Dallas, Austin and Houston, who prized it as a place where their daughters could absorb Christian values, learn self-reliance and develop lifelong social connections. The Bushes, Johnsons and Connallys are among leading Texas families who sent their daughters there.
Dick Eastland and his wife, Willetta, known as “Tweety,” had run the camp since 1987 as co-directors.
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The Eastlands plan to reopen part of the retreat this summer: the newer Camp Mystic Cypress Lake campus, which sits on higher ground and did not flood on July 4. Nearly 900 girls have registered to attend. The opening is set for May 30.
But it hinges on whether the Texas Department of State Health Services grants a license renewal permitting the Cypress Lake site to operate. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has asked the agency not to renew the license until all investigations into the July 4 disaster have been completed.
The Texas Rangers are conducting a criminal investigation, Patrick said, and committees of the Texas House and Senate also are examining the facts surrounding what the lieutenant governor called “the extreme loss” of life on July 4.
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The House Committee is scheduled to travel to Camp Mystic Guadalupe River on Monday afternoon to inspect the site.