A judge has denied a company’s motion to enforce a settlement agreement regarding a wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf of the mother of a 4-year-old girl who lost both parents in a 2021 Georgia poultry plant gas leak that claimed six lives and injured nearly 50 others. The girl, Ximena Sophia Vera, is also a plaintiff in the suit, which was brought by the estate of her mother, Nelly Gizel Perez-Rafael.

Matt Cook (clockwise from top left), Nathan Nicholson, Kate Cook and Josh Bearden of the Cook Law Group in Gainesville. Courtesy photos Matt Cook (clockwise from top left), Nathan Nicholson, Kate Cook and Josh Bearden of the Cook Law Group in Gainesville. (Courtesy photos)

The incident happened Jan. 28, 2021, when a Messer-owned immersion freezer at Gainesville’s Foundation Food Group poultry plant had an allegedly defective bubbler tube that allowed an overflow of liquid nitrogen in a freezer tank, sucking all the oxygen out of the air and causing the workers in the room to asphyxiate.