A McAllen law firm is facing a lawsuit over an employee’s alleged role in a barratry case.

The lawsuit was filed in March 2026 in Cameron County. It accuses the Almaraz Law Firm and two people identified as employees of the firm of “unethically and illegally” attempting to solicit the grieving family of a man killed in an April 2025 car crash as clients.

The lawsuit is seeking $750,000 in damages and a jury trial.

According to the lawsuit, the employees continuously harassed and attempted to solicit accident victims and their relatives as clients for the law firm with a fake website and multiple phone calls, texts and voicemails.

One of the employees, identified as Heberto Lopez, was indicted on a barratry charge —otherwise known as ambulance chasing — in November 2025. 

THE ALLEGED SCHEME

According to the lawsuit, employees of the Almaraz Law Firm operate “TX Community Partners,” described as a website for a fraudulent non-profit organization used as a cover to initiate contact with prospective personal injury clients after an accident.

A law firm employee texted a link to the website to the family of Lorenzo Guajardo Jr. two days after he died in a car crash, the lawsuit stated.

The employee said she was a representative of TX Community Partners, and that the organization wanted to cover funeral expenses. The employee later texted one of Guajardo’s relatives a link to the Almaraz Law Firm’s website and an offer to have dinner delivered.

The employee texted, “He's amazing, and from personal experience he will do his best for your family,” according to a screenshot of the text provided in the lawsuit.

Lopez also started texting Guajardo’s family members, offering to deliver "sweet bread" and drinks while asking to speak with the family. 

Guajardo’s relatives contacted the Brownsville Police Department, and an investigation began. A Brownsville police investigator and a police sergeant accompanied the Guajardo family for the funeral.

Lopez showed up to Guajardo’s funeral. The officers later noted that Lopez showed up in a vehicle registered to the Almaraz Law Firm, and that a folder with the law firm’s name was in the vehicle.

“Lopez expressed his willingness to help and encouraged him to reach out if the family needed more assistance,” a detective said in his statement. “The family had their own attorney, and at no point were the services of other attorneys requested."

RELATED STORY: Brownsville crash victim warns of ‘ambulance chasing’ lawyers

On April 28, 2025, four days after the funeral, Lopez sent one last text to Guajardo’s relative. 

“I hope you’re doing better, I’m just following up to see if you had a chance to check out our website, or if you[sic] still interested in giving us this opportunity to help you and your family,”  the text reads.

Four months later, Lopez was arrested on the barratry charge.

“The criminal actions committed by the defendants are deliberate and are coldly calculated to advance their financial interests with complete disregard for the victims they target and the laws they violate,”  the lawsuit states.

Cameron County court records show Lopez’s trial is set to start in October 2026.

Channel 5 News called the Almaraz Law Firm for comment and also sent the firm a message through their website. As of Saturday, a response has not been made.

INCREASED PENALTIES FOR BARRATRY OFFENSES

Channel 5 News spoke with local attorney J. Gonzalez to ask how rare it is for a person to be criminally charged and also be sued for barratry.

A law went into effect in Texas in September 2025 that increased the penalties for lawyers who commit barratry from $10,000 to $50,000.

"It was something that was very rare going back 20, 30, 40 years, but now I think police departments and district attorneys are going to be prone to pursue these criminally, and lawyers can pursue them civilly," Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez says evidence of barratry is important. If it happens to you, take screenshots of text messages and record phone call conversations if possible.

A hearing date on the lawsuit has not been set yet.