Your phone rings a few hours after the crash. The caller already knows where it happened, roughly when, and that you were involved. They’re offering you a lawyer. You didn’t search for one. You didn’t ask anyone for a referral. So how did they get your number, and is any of this actually legal?
The short answer: it depends on how and when contact was made, and Texas law is more specific on this than most people realize. At MR.LAW Accident and Injury Attorneys, our trial attorneys work with accident victims across the Dallas area, and we hear about these calls regularly. The rules controlling when an attorney can reach out to you are worth understanding before you say another word to whoever is on the other end of the line.
What Texas Law Actually Says About Attorneys Contacting Accident Victims
Texas Penal Code 38.12 makes it a crime for anyone, including attorneys and the people who work for them, to solicit employment from an accident victim with the intent to obtain an economic benefit. The statute covers in-person contact, live phone calls, social media direct messages, and other electronic communications. This isn’t a bar rule with soft consequences; it’s a criminal statute.
Effective September 1, 2025, the statute was amended to expressly include social media direct messages and other electronic communications. That means a DM sliding into your Instagram after a crash now falls squarely within the same prohibition that has long covered phone calls. Most existing articles on this topic predate that change, so readers researching now may be working with incomplete information.
The penalties aren’t trivial. A first-time violation involving personal injury or accident-related solicitation under subsection (d) is a Class A misdemeanor, carrying up to a year in jail and a fine. A repeat offense becomes a third-degree felony. Texas prosecutors have pursued barratry cases against attorneys and their runners.
The 31-Day Rule Only Tells Half the Story
You may have read that an attorney can contact you once 31 days have passed since the accident. That framing is misleading in a way that matters. The 31-day waiting period in Penal Code 38.12(d)(2)(A) applies to any solicitation concerning a particular accident, including in-person contact, phone calls, and electronic communications. No form of unsolicited outreach is permitted before that 31st day.
But the clock doesn’t fix everything. Texas Disciplinary Rule of Professional Conduct 7.03(b) imposes a separate, non-time-limited prohibition: it bars a lawyer from initiating live phone contact, in-person contact, or interactive electronic contact to solicit a prospective client at any time, unless that person has a family, close personal, or prior business relationship with the lawyer. There’s no 31-day clock that makes a cold call from a stranger acceptable. The two rules address different forms of solicitation, and both apply.
There’s one important category that falls entirely outside these restrictions: contact you initiate yourself. If you submit an online case evaluation form, call a firm’s number directly, or ask a friend to connect you with their attorney, none of that is solicitation. The statute targets communications sent to someone who hasn’t sought out that person’s services. The moment you reach out first, the dynamic changes.
How Illegally Obtained Leads Turn into a Phone Call
Attorneys don’t always make these calls themselves. Texas Penal Code 38.12 separately criminalizes the conduct of non-attorney “runners” and “cappers”, people paid per signed case to find accident victims and steer them toward a specific firm. Under subsections (a)(4) through (6), both the runner and the attorney who pays for the referral can face criminal liability.
Some lead-generation companies occupy a gray space by gathering contact information through methods like monitoring police scanner traffic, pulling towing records, or accessing hospital contact data, then selling that information to law firms. The firm itself may never directly solicit you; they simply call a number someone else found through methods that may themselves be illegal.
Under Penal Code 38.12(e), a desire not to be contacted is legally presumed if an accident report reflects that the injured person or a relative indicated they didn’t want to be solicited. A solicitor using that same accident report as the basis for their call may already be violating the statute before the phone even rings on your end.
Signs the Call Is Solicitation, Not Genuine Help
Not every call from a law firm after an accident is automatically barratry. If you filled out a form, have an existing relationship with the attorney, or a family member made a referral on your behalf, the contact may be entirely appropriate. The question is whether the call came to you unsolicited, and whether the behavior on the call matches what the statute describes as prohibited.
These are the signals worth watching for:
- Pressure to sign immediately. A caller pushing you to sign a representation agreement or a medical treatment authorization before you’ve had any time to review anything matches the coercion and undue influence language Penal Code 38.12(d)(2)(E) prohibits.
- Refusal to identify the firm. A caller who won’t name the law firm they represent, or who describes their role as working per referral rather than as an attorney, is describing conduct subsections (a)(4) through (6) make illegal.
- Specific settlement promises. Promising a dollar figure before knowing the facts of your injury, or refusing to explain how fees work, fits the false or misleading statement language in subsection (d)(2)(F).
- They knew details you didn’t share. If the caller has your name, location, and accident details without any prior contact from you, that information came from somewhere, and how it was obtained is worth questioning.
What to Do If You Were Illegally Solicited
If you signed a representation agreement after an unsolicited contact, you may have more options than you think. Under Texas Government Code 82.0651, a client whose contract was obtained through conduct that violates Penal Code 38.12 or Disciplinary Rule 7.03 can bring a civil action to void the contract, recover fees already paid, seek actual damages, claim a statutory penalty, and recover attorney’s fees for bringing the action. That’s a meaningful civil remedy, not just a complaint process.
For reporting, contact the Chief Disciplinary Counsel’s Office of the State Bar of Texas. That office investigates and prosecutes attorney misconduct, including barratry. If the conduct involves a non-attorney runner, both the runner and the attorney can face separate criminal liability under the statute. In the meantime, don’t share personal, medical, or financial details on a call you didn’t initiate, and don’t sign anything until you’ve independently verified the caller’s identity and confirmed the firm they claim to represent actually exists and is licensed in Texas.
The Safest Move After an Unexpected Call
The discomfort you felt when that call came in wasn’t unfounded. Texas law puts real limits on who can contact you after a crash, when, and how. A call that arrives before you’ve searched for anyone, from someone who already has your details, deserves scrutiny regardless of how professional it sounds.
You have every right to verify first and decide on your own timeline. If you’d like to speak with our injury attorneys, on your terms, because you chose to reach out, MR.LAW Accident and Injury Attorneys offers free, confidential consultations with no pressure and no obligation. Reach us at (469) 689-0200.