Five weeks after Austin Flores’ family hired attorney Mark Braswell to file a wrongful death suit against H-E-B, the family fired Braswell and hired the Gamez Law Firm. Flores, 27, died after suffering injuries in a forklift accident at an H-E-B distribution center on San Antonio’s Northeast Side.
Andrew J. Whitaker/San Antonio Express-News
Jason Massiatte is chief executive of the nonprofit Hope at Heart Foundation.
Courtesy
Natalie Gamez, a spokeswoman for the Gamez Law Firm, appears in a television commercial with Jason Massiatte, CEO of the Hope at Heart Foundation.
Court document
The Gamez Law Firm is pushing back against allegations that it secured the right to represent a family in a potentially lucrative wrongful death case with help from the head of a San Antonio charity that the law firm supports financially.
In a video statement posted on Facebook, spokeswoman Natalie Gamez denied that the firm’s support for the nonprofit Hope at Heart played any role in a decision by Brenda and Patrick Flores to fire their original lawyer and retain the Gamez firm to represent them in a wrongful death lawsuit against H-E-B.
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The couple’s son, Austin, 27, died April 8 after sustaining injuries in a forklift accident at an H-E-B distribution center on the Northeast Side.
“The decision to retain Gamez Law belongs solely to the Flores family,” Natalie Gamez said in the video. “Every person has the right to choose the attorney they believe will best represent their interests, and that right should always be respected.”
Hope at Heart, in a separate Facebook post, defended its relationship with the law firm as rooted in a shared commitment to community service and said it would not be “distracted by negativity.” Hope at Heart’s mission is to support families dealing with medical crises or other hardships.
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Both statements were in response to a San Antonio Express-News investigation into allegations of client-poaching and barratry — the improper solicitation of legal clients — surrounding the Flores family’s lawsuit against H-E-B.
READ MORE: An H-E-B employee died after a workplace accident. Then lawyers began circling.
Austin Flores, a 2016 graduate of East Central High School, was injured April 4 at H-E-B’s Perishable Distribution Center. He was operating a piece of equipment called a pallet jack when he was broadsided by a forklift, according to the family’s lawsuit. He suffered a fractured right ankle and other injuries, the complaint says.
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Four days later, he collapsed in the bathroom and died. According to the lawsuit, the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that he died from blunt-force trauma and a pulmonary embolism, a clot that blocks blood flow to the lungs.
The Floreses hired San Antonio attorney Mark Braswell, and he filed suit against H-E-B on April 17, seeking more than $100 million in damages. Five weeks later, the family fired Braswell and hired the Gamez Law Firm.
Braswell alleges that Jason Massiatte, CEO of Hope at Heart, helped steer the family to Gamez, an accusation both Massiatte and the law firm deny. Braswell has asked the Texas attorney general to investigate the nonprofit.
The Express-News story, published online on Aug. 6 and in print three days later, reported that Hope at Heart has longstanding ties to the Gamez family. The law firm has sponsored the charity for years; its offices are in a building owned by a company connected to the Gamez family; and Massiatte appears with Natalie Gamez, daughter of the firm’s founder and namesake, Joe A. Gamez, in a television commercial promoting the nonprofit and the law firm’s community work.
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In an excerpt of a recorded May 1 conversation obtained by the Express-News, Brenda Flores told a paralegal in Braswell’s office that Massiatte had gone to her home and encouraged her to “go with us” in terms of legal representation. When she asked who he meant by “us,” Flores said Massiatte replied, “The Gamez Law Firm.”
On the recording, she can also be heard saying that Massiatte told her he worked closely with former Mayor Julián Castro, and that Castro had told him to visit the family to discuss who would handle their lawsuit. Flores later said the excerpt did not reflect the entirety of the conversation and that Massiatte had discussed several lawyers with her, not just Gamez.
Castro, a former U.S. secretary of Housing and Urban Development who ran for president in 2020, has denied any involvement in referring the family to the Gamez Law Firm. He said he did not know Massiatte. For his part, Massiatte denied telling Flores that Castro had sent him and said he does not know Castro personally.
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Hope at Heart was founded in 2017 to serve children with cancer and later expanded to provide grief support and other assistance to families in crisis. Massiatte became the foundation’s chief executive in 2024 after serving as chairman of its board.
Natalie Gamez said the law firm’s support for Hope at Heart is part of a broader commitment to philanthropy, adding that it has contributed more than $2 million to nonprofit organizations in San Antonio and South Texas since 2022.
“Our support has never been about legal matters,” she said. “It’s always been about the children and the families that the foundation serves.”
In its Facebook post, Hope at Heart did not directly address the allegation of client-poaching. It said “recent statements” about its relationship with Gamez had prompted “many conversations.” The nonprofit emphasized its work supporting children and families coping with pediatric cancer and sickle cell disease.
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“Our partnership with Gamez Law Firm is rooted in a shared commitment to compassion, service, and creating meaningful impact for those who need it most,” the foundation said.
Barratry, often referred to as “ambulance chasing,” involves deceit, coercion or other unethical conduct in soliciting legal clients.
Under state law and the State Bar of Texas’ rules of professional conduct, lawyers generally are prohibited from pitching their services to would-be clients directly — in person, by phone or through a person’s family members. Using an intermediary to solicit a client is also prohibited.
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Lawyers who violate the rules can be disciplined by the bar — including having their licenses suspended or even revoked — and also may face civil liability, fines and criminal prosecution.