The NC Court of Appeals has decided a camp was not guilty of negligence when a 16-year-old camper was allegedly raped by a camp counselor.
The alleged victim said the rape occurred on the last night of camp when in the course of a game that involved sneaking around at night, she ended up alone with a male camp counselor in a dark, wooded area of the camp. The victim did not report what happened until months after the alleged attack. When confronted by the camper’s accusation, the counselor first denied anything had happened and then claimed they’d had sex but it was consensual.
The girl and her father sued the camp for their negligence in hiring of the counselor as well as for failing to provide the girl with a safe environment. The court decided that because the game was restricted to “senior high campers,” counselors and adult staff, it did not pose a risk to the girl’s safety. They also found that the camp did not fail in their duty to train camp counselors because training included warnings about physical relationships and being one-on-one with campers.