Georgia Supreme Court Disbars Workers’ Comp Attorney for Taking Client Funds

The Georgia Supreme Court this week disbarred a workers’ compensation claimants’ attorney after in investigation alleged that he had forged clients’ signatures and kept almost $160,000 in settlement proceeds for his own use.

Bryan Matthew Pritchett, of Chamblee, had been practicing law since 2001 but was suspended in 2024. He can apply for reinstatement at some point, but he would first have to pay restitution to three injured worker clients, including one from which Pritchett had converted more than $104,000 in recovery payments, the court’s order explains.

“Having reviewed the record, we agree that disbarment is the appropriate sanction, and that disbarment is consistent with prior cases in which an attorney admitted to violating similar provisions of the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct that carry disbarment as a sanction and failed to participate fully in the disciplinary process,” the Feb. 17 order notes.

Pritchett, who had worked for several years on the insurance defense side before moving to the plaintiffs’ bar, was suspended from practicing law in 2024 after the Georgia Bar filed two formal complaints. He failed to respond to disciplinary proceedings and filed no objections to a special master’s investigation report, the court explained.

The Supreme Court did not explain the circumstances that may have led to Pritchett’s downfall. But the justices noted that the Bar’s standards for sanctions require the court to consider many factors in disbarment actions, including the attorney’s mental state and mitigating and aggravating circumstances. A court-appointed special master identified 10 aggravating factors, including multiple offenses, years of experience in law practice, and illegal conduct.

“In contrast, the Special Master determined that the sole mitigating factor was Pritchett’s lack of a prior disciplinary record,” the high court said in its order. “The Special Master concluded that the ten aggravating factors overwhelmingly outweighed the single mitigating factor.”

All the justices concurred in the disbarment order.

Pritchett’s biographical write-up on Experience.com notes that he once served as a mediator on workers’ compensation claims around Georgia. He was co-counsel in a significant case before the Georgia Court of Appeals, known as Renu Thrift Store vs. Figueroa, in 2007. The decision expanded the rights of injured workers when benefits are paid late, and it helped define the limits of what an insurance carrier can claim on alleged overpayments of benefits, the bio reads.

“Here, the Board found that Renu’s unilateral suspension of benefits without a Board order was unreasonable, because Renu’s overpayments were made due to its own error,” the appeals court concluded in its opinion.

Topics
Workers’ Compensation
Georgia