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.
Andrew J. Whitaker/San Antonio Express-News
Jason Massiatte is chief executive and president of the nonprofit Hope at Heart Foundation.
Courtesy
Austin Flores, 27, died four days after being injured in an H-E-B workplace accident. His family is suing the company for more than $100 million.
Brenda Flores
Austin Flores’ family hired attorney Mark Braswell to represent them in a wrongful death suit against H-E-B. Soon after, the family “was hit by a barrage, a blitzkrieg of lawyers” intent on taking the case away from him, Braswell said.
Andrew J. Whitaker/San Antonio Express-News
Board members of a San Antonio charity have maintained a public silence in the face of allegations that the organization’s top executive used his position to steer legal business to a personal injury law firm with extensive ties to the charity.
The allegations involve the Hope at Heart Foundation and its CEO and president, Jason Massiatte. They center on a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Austin Flores, 27, an H-E-B employee who died after a workplace accident in April.
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Mark Braswell, a San Antonio lawyer who initially represented the family, has accused Massiatte of inserting himself into the potentially lucrative case and influencing Flores’ parents to fire Braswell and hire the Gamez Law Firm to pursue the lawsuit.
The Gamez firm has sponsored Hope at Heart for years, and the charity’s offices are in a building owned by a company connected to the Gamez family. Massiatte has appeared in a television commercial and in social media posts promoting Hope at Heart and the law firm’s community work.
RELATED: An H-E-B employee died after a workplace accident. Then lawyers began circling.
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At a June 24 court hearing, Braswell described recorded conversations in which Flores’ mother, Brenda, said Massiatte encouraged her to switch to the Gamez firm and promised her that he and former San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro would publicly support the family if she did.
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Braswell told the judge Massiatte had engaged in “barratry disguised as charity.” Barratry refers to deceit, coercion or other unethical conduct in soliciting legal clients. It is a crime in Texas and a violation of the State Bar’s rules of professional conduct.
Massiatte, the Gamez firm and Flores’ parents have denied the allegations. They said the family changed lawyers because they were dissatisfied with Braswell’s representation. Massiatte said he reached out to the Flores family to offer support as they grieved, not from any financial motive.
Silence from board
The San Antonio Express-News, which published a lengthy report on the controversy earlier this month, reached out to Hope at Heart’s 12 board members to ask what action if any they intended to take in response to the allegations against Massiatte.
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Two board members, Trevor Baer, a business consultant, and Kurt Robinson, a construction company owner, said they hadn’t seen the article. The remaining 10, including the board chair and co-chair, did not respond to voicemails or to messages sent via email or the professional networking platform LinkedIn.
The Express-News did, however, receive a letter from an attorney representing Hope at Heart and its board. The letter demanded that the paper “immediately cease and desist from any further contact with the organization, its board members, employees, representatives or affiliated individuals.”
“Hope at Heart respects the role of journalism and the fundamental right to freedom of speech,” wrote San Antonio attorney Kristian Knapp. “However, the nature, frequency and manner of the communications and inquiries being directed toward the organization and those associated with it have become excessive and are now bordering on harassment. This feels like nothing more than an attempt to oust the CEO.
“Hope at Heart does not wish to provide comment regarding this matter or any related or adjacent matter,” Knapp wrote.
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The Express-News had placed one phone call each to 10 of the 12 board members and later sent one email or LinkedIn message to all 12.
The charity began in 2017 as Ma Hila’s Heart Children’s Cancer Foundation, with a mission to help children afflicted with the disease. It later expanded to provide grief support and other assistance to families facing hardships. Massiatte became chief executive in 2024 after serving as board chairman. The organization changed its name to Hope at Heart last year.
Its board includes such prominent San Antonio figures as George B. Hernández Jr., former CEO of University Health; Daniel Martinez, executive director of the American Red Cross of Central & South Texas Region; and Marco Barros, founder of the River Walk Business Group.
Danielle Smothers, part of Generations Federal Credit Union’s management team, is board chair. Cynthia DeLaPeña, an executive with Community First Health Plan, is co-chair.
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The other board members are: Veronica Gonzales, who works in property management; April Moxley, a social worker with a background in grief counseling; Ricardo “Ricky” Ramirez, a Marriott sales executive; Roxy Rios, a human resources professional; and Martha Saenz, clinical administrator for Conviva Senior Primary Care.
Michael Lyssy, an H-E-B human resources manager, served on the board until resigning recently. His tenure overlapped with Massiatte’s involvement with the Flores family.
An H-E-B representative said Lyssy stepped down from the board for personal reasons. In a follow-up email, the company said Lyssy served on the board in a purely personal capacity and that Hope at Heart had never been approved through the company’s process for clearing employees to represent H-E-B on nonprofit boards.
Jason Massiatte, CEO and president of the Hope at Heart Foundation, appears in a television commercial for the Gamez Law Firm. He is joined by Natalie Jones Gamez, a spokesperson for the firm.
Court document
‘Go with us’
Austin Flores was broadsided by a forklift while working at H-E-B’s Perishable Distribution Center on the Northeast Side on April 4. He suffered a fractured right ankle and other injuries, according to the family’s lawsuit. He died four days later after collapsing in the bathroom.
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On April 9, his parents retained Braswell. Brenda Flores told the Express-News he was recommended to the family by her son Paul’s boss. Braswell filed suit against H-E-B on April 17, seeking more than $100 million in damages.
Braswell contends that “case runners” and other intermediaries soon began lobbying the family to change lawyers — calling, emailing, even visiting their home. He said the attention became so intense that he arranged for security cameras at the Flores residence. In interviews with the Express-News, Brenda largely corroborated Braswell’s account.
At the June 24 court hearing, Braswell singled out Massiatte as having been especially persistent in trying to persuade the family to switch law firms.
READ MORE: Gamez Law Firm says it did not exploit ties to charity to land legal case against H-E-B
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Braswell presented to the judge a thumb drive of a May 1 phone conversation between Brenda Flores and a paralegal in his office. On the recording, Flores can be heard saying that Massiatte visited her home and told her he was there at the request of Castro, a former San Antonio mayor, U.S. secretary of housing and urban development, and Democratic presidential candidate.
“He was like, ‘I work closely with Julián Castro, and he told me to come out and visit with you and ask you … like, what are your intentions with this whole lawsuit with H-E-B,’ and did I want to change,” Flores said on the recording.
She added that Massiatte encouraged her to “go with us,” and that when she asked him what he meant by “us,” Massiatte replied, “The Gamez Law Firm.” He then told her that if she switched to Gamez, “Julián Castro and I will stand beside you in front of the news media.”
Castro told the Express-News he does not know Massiatte and has never referred cases to the Gamez firm.
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Massiatte denied ever telling the Flores family that Castro had sent him or that the former mayor would appear with them in public. Massiatte said he had never heard the terms “barratry” or “case runner” until Braswell accused him of acting as one. He said he approached the Flores family after Austin’s death to offer support, provide flowers for the funeral and arrange for a memorial star honoring Austin.
Hope at Heart has posted on its website a video of Brenda Flores and her husband standing at a podium with the Gamez firm’s logo as a backdrop, saying Massiatte had no role in the family’s decision to change firms.
“He never told us who to choose or try to influence our decision,” Brenda says, reading from a prepared statement. “His only guidance was simple: ‘Do what is best for your family.’”
Braswell has asked the Texas Attorney General’s Charitable Trusts division to investigate Hope at Heart. He said Thursday that he had yet to receive a response. He also said he learned that Brenda Flores had filed a grievance against him with the State Bar. He said he had not had a chance to review it but that it appeared to have been prepared by lawyers.
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Duty of care
The Express-News asked a San Antonio attorney who advises tax-exempt nonprofits what responsibilities their board members have when allegations are raised against an organization’s chief executive — the situation facing Hope at Heart.
Attorney Katy David said members of nonprofit boards have a duty of care that includes an obligation to ask questions rather than accept information at face value. Depending on the circumstances, a board may need to investigate to obtain reliable information.
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“Often it is helpful to have the investigation conducted by an independent third party,” David said, adding that doing so can demonstrate to stakeholders and the public that directors take the matter seriously.
David said that even if a review found no wrongdoing, directors should consider safeguards aimed at preventing similar conduct or allegations in the future.