Dale Bay is a shareholder in the firm’s Nashville office, where he served as managing shareholder for 20 years and was a founding member of the board of directors and compensation committee. Since beginning his practice with the firm in 1984, Mr. Bay has concentrated in the area of civil jury trial litigation in state and federal courts throughout the State of Tennessee and the southeastern United States. Mr. Bay’s current litigation work is primarily focused in the areas of medical malpractice (Healthcare Liability), professional malpractice defense, product liability, and catastrophic injury tort liability defense. In addition to medical professionals, legal professionals and product liability related clients, Mr. Bay represents clients in transportation/trucking law, aviation law, personal injury automobile/personal lines, employment discrimination, and business and commercial litigation. Mr. Bay has defended numerous complex, multi-million-dollar personal injury claims in both state and federal courts, representing a variety of national and international clients as well as local companies and professionals. As a defense trial lawyer, Mr. Bay has served in the capacity as regional counsel taking the role of lead trial counsel in multiple jurisdictions in the southeastern United States. He also has extensive experience serving as local Tennessee trial counsel working with national or regional counsel to further the clients’ litigation needs.

 AFFILIATIONS

• Nashville Bar Association
• Tennessee Bar Association
• American Bar Association
• Member, Defense Research Institute
• Member, International Association of Defense Counsel

PROFESSIONAL HONORS AND ACTIVITIES

• Best Lawyers® 2021 Medical Malpractice Law/Defendants “Lawyer of the Year” in Nashville
• Fellow, Litigation Counsel of America
• Selected by American Lawyer Media and Martindale-Hubbell as Elite Lawyer of the South (2017, 2018)
• Best Lawyers® 2015 ,2018 and 2020 Product Liability Litigation – Defendants “Lawyer of the Year”  in Nashville
• ALM Top Rated Lawyer in Healthcare Law 2015
• Named to The Best Lawyers in America®, Product Liability Litigation – Defendants, Medical Malpractice Law – Defendants and Personal Injury Litigation – Defendants
• Named in Mid-South Super Lawyers
• Top Rated Lawyer in Insurance Law – the American Lawyer & Corporate Counsel

REPRESENTATIVE MATTERS

• Obtained a defense verdict in favor of an urgent care physician in a two-week wrongful death healthcare liability trial in Montgomery County Circuit Court. The plaintiff alleged the defendant physician misdiagnosed the decedent with gastroesophageal reflux disease four days prior to his death from cardiac tamponade as a result of a rare heart infection called purulent bacterial pericarditis. In closing arguments, plaintiff’s counsel asked the jury for $4,372,736 in economic damages and $750,000 in non-economic damages. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendant physician, finding that she did not deviate from the applicable standard of care.
• Prevailed in an important healthcare liability matter in the Supreme Court of Tennessee.  In the case, it was alleged that the defendant doctor told  the  plaintiff  he  was  an  experienced board-certified plastic surgeon, and that the doctor’s representations induced the plaintiff to consent to surgery. However, the doctor was not a board-certified plastic surgeon, and the plaintiff alleged that she was injured as a result of the surgery. The plaintiff and her husband sued the doctor, his medical practice, and the surgical facility for her injuries, alleging medical battery and intentional misrepresentation.  The defendants filed a motion to dismiss based on the plaintiffs’ failure to comply with  the  pre-suit  notice  and  filing  requirements  of  the  Health  Care Liability Act.  The plaintiffs agreed they did not comply with the Act but argued the Act did not apply to their medical battery and intentional misrepresentation claims.  The trial court agreed with the plaintiffs, and the Court of Appeals affirmed.  However, the Supreme Court of Tennessee reversed the Court of Appeals and held that the “Health Care Liability Act applies to the plaintiffs’ claims. The Act broadly defines a ‘health care liability action’ to include claims alleging that a health care provider caused an injury that related to the provision of health care services, regardless of the theory of liability.  Based  on the  allegations  in  the  complaint,  the  plaintiffs’  medical  battery  and intentional  misrepresentation claims fall within the definition of a ‘health  care liability action’ under the Act.”

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