Lawyers Spar Over Subrogation Claims in Georgia

The lawyer for a young woman who lost an arm in a chicken-processing machine accident said he was able to persuade the chicken plant's owner, Pilgrim's Pride, to drop a suit seeking more than $140,000 in worker's compensation payments from the $2.75 million settlement she reached with the machine's manufacturer. D. Brandon Hornsby said that while Pilgrim's Pride "did the right thing" by dropping its suit, the case highlights what he called a troubling trend that has accelerated since Georgia's General Assembly in 2005 passed a series of laws that generally favored defendants in litigation.