One of the lawsuits filed this week against Camp Mystic now has five additional families on it.
Attorneys confirmed to KSAT on Friday that the McCown, Pohl, Sheedy, Stevens and Toranzo families were added to the Getten family lawsuit. The Gettens’ daughter, 8-year-old Ellen Getten, was among the 25 campers and two counselors killed during the catastrophic July 4 floods while at Camp Mystic.
The Getten petition is among several filed by families who allege the camp provided no evacuation training, ignored flood warnings and failed to evacuate campers. There are at least 19 families named in the four total lawsuits.
“And had proper preparation been done, had proper planning been put in place, this entire event could have been avoided,” the Gettens’ lawyer, Kyle Findley, said.
Lawsuits began to be filed against the camp on Monday. By Tuesday, four lawsuits had been filed. Two were joint lawsuits by groups of victims’ families, including the Lytal family from San Antonio, who lost 8-year-old Kellyanne, who was named in one of those joint cases.
The family of 8-year-old Eloise “Lulu” Peck has also filed a separate lawsuit.
At least two of the lawsuits seek $1 million in damages.
“We continue to pray for the grieving families and ask for God’s healing and comfort,” the camp said in a statement sent to KSAT earlier this week regarding the lawsuits.
In a separate statement, Camp Mystic’s legal counsel said they “intend to demonstrate and prove that this sudden surge of floodwaters far exceeded any previous flood in the area by several magnitudes, that it was unexpected and that no adequate warning systems existed in the area.”
“We disagree with several accusations and misinformation in the legal filings regarding the actions of Camp Mystic and Dick Eastland, who lost his life as well,” the legal counsel said. “We will thoroughly respond to these accusations in due course.”
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