Two Texas plaintiffs’ attorneys — Ted Lyon and Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins — have completed their purchase of the law firm Loncar & Associates from the estate of prominent personal injury lawyer Brian Loncar.
The sale of the Dallas firm, which closed on Jan. 23, pushes Lyon, Jenkins and Loncar’s heirs to the finish line of a contentious, three-year battle over Loncar’s estate in probate court.
According to court records, Dallas County Probate Judge Brenda Hull Thompson cleared the way for the $13 million transaction on Dec. 2 after a two-part hearing over the matter. The $13 million dollar legal question was whether Texas law allows Jenkins, who is also the executor of Loncar’s estate, to purchase the law firm. Jenkins, Lyon (who represents Jenkins) and others on Jenkins’ legal team argued that it was in the best interest of the estate for Jenkins to purchase the firm.
Judge Thompson agreed, authorizing the sale of the law firm under the terms laid out in an Oct. 11, 2019 stock purchase agreement reached with Brian’s daughters, Hailey Loncar and Abby Loncar, the sole remaining beneficiaries of the trust tied to Loncar’s estate.
Citing Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu’s saying, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” Lyon told The Texas Lawbook, “there were a lot of twists and turns trying to get through all the litigation.”
“We’re at the very end of it now,” he said. “And I’m very proud of it.”
Jenkins told The Texas Lawbook that the purchase with Lyon gives them “a good investment” and “a good payoff for the estate.”
“[The Loncar firm] has helped thousands of people a year for 30 years,” Jenkins said. “I’m confident that it will be a successful venture because we have a great team over there that is committed to the client. [The attorneys are] doing a great job and they’re an easy group to lead.”
The life of Brian Loncar, 56, ended in tragedy on the morning of Dec. 4, 2016, when he died in his Rolls-Royce from a cocaine overdose. Loncar, who was parked outside his law office, died just a week following the suicide of his 16-year-old daughter, Grace Loncar, who had been battling depression.
The younger Loncar was a junior at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, where she was in the school’s acting program.
Brian’s wife and Grace’s mother, Sue Loncar, told NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth in a May 2017 interview that she believed her husband, who had a lifelong struggle with addiction, medicated to dull the pain of losing their daughter.
Loncar became a giant in the Texas plaintiffs’ bar beginning in late 1980s for his TV ads under the nickname, “The Strong Arm,” which helped him build Loncar & Associates to an 11-office, multimillion-dollar law firm. As a larger-than-life celebrity lawyer who left behind an estate in the dozens of millions, Loncar’s death captured headlines around the world.
But much like the Google results that chronicle Loncar’s controversial life, drama surrounded both the sale of his law firm and the overall probate of his estate.
Following Loncar’s death, Lyon said, lawsuits emerged from parties claiming the Loncar estate owed them money. Lyon originally got involved in the probate case to help oversee that sub-litigation.
Meanwhile, Dallas advisory firm Hayse, which was hired by the estate, spent a year marketing Loncar & Associates to other plaintiffs’ law firms across the country. But the efforts resulted in no prospects promising enough for a sale acceptable to Loncar’s heirs, court documents say. That led Abby and Hailey Loncar to inquire last year whether Jenkins was interested in buying the law firm.
Dallas attorney Bret Madole, who represented Hailey Loncar in the transaction, said the sisters concluded Jenkins was the best fit to take over the firm because he already knew the ins and outs of the business through his experience with running the estate. Moreover, as a 30-year friend of their father, they had also known Jenkins for a long time.
“They were very comfortable with him (Jenkins)… and knew they were in good hands,” said Madole, a partner at Carrington Coleman. “And they wanted to see the continuance of their father’s name.”
Jenkins said he asked Lyon if he wanted to be his partner in the purchase, and the two agreed to a 50/50 split. The negotiation period commenced, and they agreed to buy the firm for $13 million, records show.
However, the deal was not without legal obstacles. At the surface it appeared that Texas law might prohibit Jenkins from purchasing the firm because of his role as executor of Loncar’s estate; doing so would make him both the buyer and the seller. So the parties had to convince Judge Thompson that because it was in the best interest of the estate, there were provisions of the Texas Estates Code under which the transaction could be allowed.
But there were other obstacles.
A week after Jenkins and the Loncar daughters filed their joint motion to approve the sale of the law firm, others objected, including Loncar’s widow, Sue Loncar.
Court documents show that before his death, Brian and Sue Loncar entered a partition agreement to divide their assets. Mrs. Loncar argued in an earlier lawsuit brought against the estate that her husband had been hiding assets so that he would not have to pay her what she was owed under their partition agreement and that Jenkins had helped Loncar hide his assets — a conflict of interest. That lawsuit was later dismissed.
In her objection to the sale of the firm, Mrs. Loncar renewed those claims, and argued that the sale proposal was not in the best interest of the estate because the law firm was worth more than $13 million. Later, she withdrew her objection and on Dec. 2, Judge Thompson approved the sale.
Under terms of the stock purchase agreement reached with Abby and Hailey Loncar, Lyon and Jenkins put down $7 million in cash, and agreed to pay off the remaining $6 million balance through quarterly payments over the next four years.
The deal did not include any real property, Jenkins said, so rental payments will provide another source of income for Loncar’s daughters.
Lyon said he will not be involved in day-to-day operations of Loncar & Associates. Jenkins said he will assume the role of president, which entails providing “vision, leadership and strategic planning” for the firm.
In addition, Jenkins and Lyon acquired an ongoing trademark dispute between Loncar & Associates and Colorado attorney Frank Azar, one of Loncar’s former law partners. The lawsuit, over use of phrase “The Strong Arm,” is currently pending in U.S. District Judge Sam Lindsay’s court in the Northern District of Texas.
All that remains in the Loncar probate case, according to Jenkins and Lyons, is to resolve a few lingering lawsuits as well as the filing of the final tax return.
Other attorneys representing Loncar’s estate in the probate case include Keith Staubus of Staubus & Randall and Keith Novick and Craig Florence of Foley Gardere.