A Stephenville man’s lawsuit accusing a prominent Dallas personal injury firm of illegally soliciting him just two days after a car crash went to trial this week in Erath County, putting Texas’s decades-old barratry law under fresh scrutiny in the age of online lead generation. Barry Marshall alleges that case runners contacted him without his consent after a driver crashed into his pickup truck near Stephenville, eventually funneling him toward attorneys at Loncar Lyon Jenkins.
Jury selection and opening statements were set to begin Monday in the case, according to The Dallas Morning News. Marshall filed the lawsuit alleging unlawful solicitation after his crash in April 2024, and the case has since narrowed to two defendants: Loncar Lyon Jenkins and Robert Paschall, who worked for the firm as a lead generator, along with his business. Erath County District Court Judge Jason Cashon earlier granted requests to dismiss Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins, former state Sen. Ted Lyon and firm COO David Brown from the suit as individuals, and separately dropped Susan Gray-Frank, who was named on the truck’s title but was not in the accident, from the complaint.
Loncar Lyon Jenkins has denied any wrongdoing. The firm is co-owned by Jenkins and Lyon, and traces back to 1988, when it was founded as Loncar Associates by the late Brian Loncar.
What Happened in the Two Days After the Crash
According to Marshall’s account, an unknown caller reached him just two days after the crash, and a webpage called Liftyouup.org called both him and Gray-Frank around the same time. Paschall has said Liftyouup.org transferred the call to his company, which then sent Marshall to the law firm. Paschall’s company representative allegedly obtained Marshall’s crash report by identifying herself as his authorized representative on the state transportation department website, and the business owned by Paschall emailed Marshall his crash report five minutes into his call…