The families of nine girls who perished in a flash flood at Camp Mystic on July 4, 2025, have launched a federal civil rights lawsuit against six Texas health officials. They allege that regulators failed to require effective evacuation plans for licensed youth camps.
This lawsuit, submitted on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas in Austin, includes current and former employees of the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS), with Director Jennifer Shuford named in her official capacity. The families contend that by granting and renewing the camp’s licenses, officials violated the constitutional rights of the girls, despite claims that the camp didn’t meet state safety regulations.
In the tragic incident, 27 campers and counselors lost their lives when floodwaters surged through the camp situated in Texas’ flood-prone “Flashway” region along the Guadalupe River. Notably, camp owner and director Dick Eastland also died while attempting to evacuate a cabin during the storm.
The lawsuit advances two key Fourteenth Amendment due process claims—one focusing on a “state-created danger” and the other concerning bodily integrity—as well as seeking damages under Texas’ Wrongful Death and Survival Act.
Interestingly, while Camp Mystic is not directly named as a defendant here, it is facing other lawsuits tied to the flooding incident.
According to the legal filings, Texas law mandates that licensed youth camps must have a written disaster plan that details evacuation procedures for every occupied building, prominently displayed in cabins, and staff must be trained on these protocols. The families argue that this is a requirement, not merely a suggestion.
The complaint suggests that DSHS only ensured camps had some form of “emergency plan” without thoroughly verifying if those plans included evacuation procedures. Camp Mystic’s documented instructions reportedly told campers and staff to “remain in their cabins unless instructed otherwise.” This directive has been labeled a “stand-by” policy and seen as incompatible with the state’s evacuation mandates.
Details from the lawsuit indicate that Inspector Maricela Torres Zamarripa performed annual inspections of Camp Mystic from at least 2015 to 2025. A report from July 5, 2024, noted “no deficiencies,” which led to the renewal of the camp’s license the following year. The current license extends until March 6.
Furthermore, the complaint states Mr. Zamarripa visited the camp on July 2, 2025—just two days before the flood—with an inspection report issued afterward again finding “no deficiencies,” despite the disastrous aftermath.
Heavy rains commenced on July 3, 2025, with a “life-threatening” flash flood warning issued at 1:14 a.m. on July 4. Initially, camp authorities told the girls to stay put, following the written protocols.
Though the complaint asserts that staff evacuated five out of eleven huts in a low-lying area close to the river, six huts weren’t evacuated, and most of the girls who died were located in two cabins in that area. The evacuation attempt appears to have been chaotic and lacked coordination.
Under the “state-created danger” claim, the families argue that regulators heightened the risks by renewing licenses without due attention to existing safety violations, which gave parents a misleading sense of security.
This case also brings up significant legal questions about whether regulatory failures amount to constitutional violations and how the protections of qualified immunity might come into play.
In the wake of this tragedy, Texas lawmakers have enacted a new bill mandating camps to establish designated evacuation sites, display evacuation routes within cabins, and ensure these routes are well-lit at night.
