Trustee or Fiduciary? Judge Takes Camp Mystic Governance Fight Under Advisement

The hearing in the Camp Mystic bankruptcy case had been ongoing for about 10 minutes Friday morning when U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez threatened to close the courtroom after a statement from counsel for the camp drew muffled laughter from members of the Heaven’s 27 families present in the gallery. 

“If decorum breaks down,” the judge said, he’d close the courtroom to everyone but the lawyers involved. A lawyer for the camp had defended filing a certain motion by saying it wasn’t “intended to delay” proceedings, which prompted the audible response from the parents (and their supporters) whose daughters died in the July 2025 flood.