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Family of 11-Year-Old Camp Mystic Victim Sues, Alleging Decades of Ignored Flood Risks
The parents of Mary Grace Baker, who died in the July 2025 Camp Mystic flash flood, filed a wrongful death suit accusing the camp of knowing about flood hazards for decades and prioritizing profit over safety. The filing came the same day a stay on such lawsuits was lifted, as independent fiduciaries take over the camp's bankruptcy decisions.
The family of an 11-year-old girl who died when floodwaters tore through Camp Mystic on July 4, 2025, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the camp's owners, alleging that decades of ignored flood risks and a failure to prepare for emergencies led to her death.
Attorney Tim Ferguson of The Ferguson Law Firm in Beaumont announced the suit on behalf of the family of Mary Grace Baker. According to Ferguson, the complaint contends that Camp Mystic's operators knew about flooding problems on the property for years â pointing to prior flood events, FEMA flood-hazard designations and annual floodplain permits â yet failed to place facilities in safe locations, lacked an effective emergency or evacuation plan, and put operational convenience and profit ahead of camper safety.
The suit was filed on the same day that an automatic stay on wrongful death litigation against the camp was lifted, Ferguson said. Camp Mystic is also navigating bankruptcy proceedings. Last week, a federal bankruptcy judge approved the appointment of two independent fiduciaries to take over the camp's business and legal affairs, ruling that the move was needed to avoid potential conflicts of interest because members of the Eastland family, which owns the camp, are also defendants in the lawsuits. The family retains ownership, but the fiduciaries now make major business and legal decisions.
In a statement, Mary Grace's father, Clarke Baker, said the family needed time before taking legal action. "There is no timeline for grief, and we needed this first year simply to survive it," he said. "We are not filing today out of anger. We are filing out of love â for our daughter, and for every child who deserves to come home from summer camp alive and unharmed. Now that we have found the strength, we owe it to Mary Grace's memory to understand the truth and to seek accountability."
Ferguson framed the case as one of preventable failure rather than natural disaster. "This was not an unforeseeable act of nature. What happened at Camp Mystic was preventable, and no family should have to bury their daughter, because a family-owned camp put other priorities ahead of children's safety," he said. "This lawsuit is about transparency, responsibility, and ensuring that no other family endures what the Bakers have suffered."
The July 2025 flooding killed 28 people at the camp, including camp director Dick Eastland. The Eastland family has also fought Texas Rangers search warrants seeking cell phone data from family members as part of the flood investigation.
The lawsuit adds to mounting legal and financial pressure on the camp as families seek answers about how a summer camp in a known flood zone became the site of one of the deadliest flash-flood tragedies in the region's recent memory.