Client Spotlight: Jimmy Lopez

One of the benefits of having a personal injury practice is that we get to meet people from all walks of life. Each person has their own unique story, and we are fortunate to get the chance to learn those stories. With our monthly newsletter, we can now spotlight some of these clients and share their stories with you.

The first such client is Jimmy Lopez, whose story was recently featured on NPR. Jimmy is the president of the United Lowriders Association (ULA) in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. This car enthusiast’s story dispels many of the ill- founded stereotypes of lowrider automobiles. His is a story of family, community, and charity, with his love of cars at the center of it all.

Cars are absolutely a family affair for Jimmy. He met his wife Sonia through the lowrider scene, and his son, Jimmy Lopez IV, also drives his own 1985 Monte Carlo convertible lowrider. The backseat of his son’s car is even embroidered with the words “My Family Comes First.”

But the ULA, with about 20 different local clubs in the DFW area, is also family to Jimmy. It was created about 15 years ago to foster support for the cars, but it has grown into so much more. They hold events for special occasions, the most prominent being an Easter gathering at Flag Pole Hill in Dallas. Each year thousands of family members from all of the clubs get together to show their cars and grill out with their friends and family. The Easter celebration culminates in a large Easter egg hunt for the kids and a free bike giveaway.

As the bike giveaway exemplifies, charity is a huge part of the ULA’s mission. They routinely conduct tow drives for local hospitals and recently held a benefit for the Dallas Police Department. And this sense of charity is directed towards other ULA members in their time of need, including Jimmy’s family. When his wife, Sonia, was diagnosed with cancer, several other car enthusiast clubs in the area came together to do a community car show to benefit her and the Lopez family. As Jimmy would tell you, that’s what family does.

For more on Jimmy Lopez’s story, please check out the original feature from NPR: http://keranews.org/post/lowriders-combat-cultural-stereotypes-family-and-flashy-tradition