A hearing is underway in Travis County, Texas, concerning civil lawsuits filed by several families who lost children in the deadly central Texas flooding last July. The families are seeking more than $1 million in damages, claiming the camp’s operators were negligent in their planning.
Background of the Tragedy
The catastrophic flooding killed 25 girls and two teenage counselors in the Hill Country. Cile Steward, 8, is the only child who has not been found. The attorneys representing the families argued that the defense counsel previously said they planned to “disclose everything” and “forfeited the right to seek arbitration.”
Last month, a Texas board suspended the nursing license of Camp Mystic’s co-director, Mary Liz Eastland, in a scathing order that accused her of not helping children evacuate during last year’s catastrophic floods. Eastland acknowledged in court that she never tried to reach those in the low-lying area of the camp as flooding worsened.
Allowing Mary Liz Eastland to keep practicing nursing would constitute a “continuing and imminent threat to public welfare,” according to an order signed by Kristin Benton, executive director of the Texas Board of Nursing. Eastland “abandoned the campers and staff when the camp site began to flood … by evacuating herself and her children to higher ground without providing any assistance or direction to all of the other campers and staff,” the order reads.
Response from Camp Mystic
Eastland rejects the findings and will fight the suspension, said Camp Mystic attorney Joshua Fiveson. He said the board suspended her license with less than a day’s notice of a hearing and without taking testimony or conducting a full investigation.
Since the flood, the Eastland family has come under intensifying criticism from families of the victims and Texas lawmakers. Several families have filed lawsuits against the Eastlands, who for months forged ahead with plans to reopen before ultimately backing down.
Original reporting: Dallas TX News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
