Howard B. Hayden is co-managing partner of the Memphis, Knoxville, and Nashville, Tennessee offices of Quintairos, Prieto, Wood & Boyer, P.A., and also practices from the firm’s Jackson, Mississippi office.  He focuses on defending long-term care providers, assisted living facilities, healthcare providers, hospitals, dentists, nurse staffing, home health agencies and skilled nursing facilities in arbitration/mediation, trial and appeal on claims of negligence, alleged elder abuse and Board Complaints throughout Tennessee and Mississippi. His practice is also emphasized in the areas of general liability, products liability, legal malpractice defense and professional licensure issues.

Mr. Hayden has extensive experience representing non-profits and faith-based organizations regarding claims related to sexual torts. He successfully defended a wrongful death action in Middle Tennessee that remains one of the few Tennessee cases against a long-term care provider to result in a full defense jury verdict. He frequently counsels long-term care providers and assisted living facilities on risk management issues.  His practice also includes legislative consulting and lobbying which has led to the successful passage of amendments to Tennessee law to ensure defense counsel, in health care liability actions, have full access to non-party health care providers for private interviews to investigate and evaluate claims; and he successfully petitioned the Tennessee Legislature on behalf of the Tennessee Defense Lawyers Association, to gain passage of an amendment to state law that clarifies the right of defense counsel in health care liability actions to meet privately with non-party medical providers for case investigation and evaluation.  Mr. Hayden is listed by the Tennessee Supreme Court as a Rule 31 General Civil Mediator.  He has attained the highest Peer Review Rating™ of AV® Preeminent™ from Martindale-Hubbell Legal Directory.

Mr. Hayden serves as general counsel and executive board member of a 160 bed non-profit skilled nursing facility in Memphis consistently rated the highest in both quality of care and employee satisfaction.  Through this service, he has attained an invaluable understanding of the internal and external pressures his clients face.  In addition, he is active in the legislative process on matters of interest to healthcare providers and has testified before the Tennessee Senate Judiciary Committee on several occasions on pending legislation.

Prior to joining QPWB, Mr. Hayden was managing partner of a Tennessee civil litigation law firm deeply embedded in the health care industry, where he represented businesses and health care entities such as hospitals, physicians, nursing homes and long-term care facilities in a wide range of matters, including proactive risk-management counsel, from his offices in Memphis and Nashville, Tennessee.

In July 2024, Mr. Hayden obtained a unanimous defense verdict following a 3-week jury trial of a wrongful death case stemming from the first COVID-19 outbreak in a Tennessee nursing home.  The outbreak at the nursing home and its aftermath were the subject of intense and largely unfavorable local and national media coverage along with public criticism from local elected officials.  These factors called into question the defendant’s ability to receive a fair trial and these concerns were magnified by the trial itself being live streamed in its entirety on the local Nashville NBC affiliate.   Securing a defense verdict on behalf of the client under these circumstances was especially gratifying and it remains one of the very few COVID-19-related wrongful death cases to go to trial.

Mr. Hayden received his Juris Doctor from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1984 and Bachelor of Science, with honors, from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 1981. He is licensed to practice law in Tennessee and Mississippi and is a member of the Memphis Bar Association, Tennessee Bar Association, Mississippi Bar Association, American Bar Association, Defense Research Institute (DRI), Tennessee Health Care Association, and Long-Term Care Risk Legal Forum.

Awards and Recognitions

• • Martindale-Hubbell AV® Preeminent ™Peer Review Rating

• • Selected Lobbyist for Tennessee Defense Lawyers Association

Professional Affiliations & Community Involvement

• • Memphis Jewish Home & Rehab, Vice President and Chief Legal Officer (2015-Present)

• • Memphis Jewish Home & Rehab, General Counsel (2014)

• • Memphis Jewish Home & Rehab, Board of Directors (2013)

• • Tennessee Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, Fellow (2014)

• • Memphis Bar Foundation, Fellow (2012)

• • American Inn of Court, Leo Bearman, Sr. Chapter (2000)

• • Memphis Humane Society, Board of Directors (1995)

• • Friends for Life HIV/AIDS Lawyers Assistance Panel, Co-Founder (1993)

• • Tennessee Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, Board of Directors (1993)

• • Memphis Bar Association, Board of Directors (1993)

• • Memphis Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, President (1993)

Seminars, Presentations & Publications

Select Presentations

• • Tennessee Health Care Association Annual Meeting, “Managing Risk – Best Practices for Your Comprehensive Risk Management Program,” (with Minton Mayer, Esq.) Nashville, TN (August 23, 2018)

• • Defense Research Institute (DRI) LTC/ALF Annual Conference, “Innovation and Investment of the Defense Bar in State Legislative Efforts,” (with Stuart Shapiro, M.D.) Scottsdale, AZ (September 8, 2016)

• • Tennessee Health Care Association, “Annual Government Update – The Appeals Process for Medicaid Approval,” Memphis, TN (December 3, 2015)

• • Tennessee Defense Lawyers Association Annual Meeting, “2015 Legislative Update,” Chattanooga, TN (September 17, 2015)

• • Leading Age State Meeting, “Managing Board Risk for Non-Profit LTC Providers,” Franklin, TN (August 4, 2015)

• • Tennessee Health Care Association Western District Meeting, “Recent HIPAA and Arbitration Issues” (February 20, 2013)

• • Tennessee Health Care Association Annual Convention, “Scrap or Save-Document Retention Policies and the Litigation Hold,” Chattanooga, TN (August 21, 2012)

• • Tennessee Health Care Association Annual Convention, “Practical Advice from the Front-Lessons Learned from a Decade of LTC Litigation in Tennessee,” Nashville, TN (August 30, 2011)

Published Cases

Hine v. Commercial Carriers, 802 S.W.2d 218 (Tenn. 1990)

Frayser v. Dentsply, 78 S.W.3d 242 (Tenn. 2002)

Taylor v. Allstate Ins. Co., 158 S.W.3d 929 (Tenn. App. 2004)

Smith v. Smith, 165 S.W.3d 285 (Tenn. App. 2004)

Unpublished Cases

Blalock v. Travelers Ins. Co., 2001 LEXIS 576 (Tenn. Sup.Ct., 2001)

Johnsey v. Northbrooke Manor, Inc., 2009 LEXIS 226 (Tenn. App. 2009)

Flowers v. Turner, 2003 Tenn. App. LEXIS 26 (Tenn. App. 2003)

Robinson v. Allstate Ins. Co., 1990 LEXIS 859 (Tenn. App. 1990)

Sanders v. Harbor View, 2015 WL 3430082 (Tenn. App. May 29, 2015)

Legislative Activity

2011/2012

• • Drafting Amendments to T.C.A. §29-26-121 and preparation of legislative Position Statement in support of amending Tennessee law to permit ex parte interviews by defense counsel with non-party medical providers;

• • Testimony before the Tennessee Senate Judiciary Committee on Senate Bill No. 2789 (March 13, 2012); (Bill passage effective July 1, 2012).

2012/2013

• • Drafting additional Amendments to T.C.A. §29-26-121 (Passed by both houses of the TN legislature (Winter 2013).

2015

• • Drafting additional Amendments to T.C.A. §29-26-121(f) and preparation of "talking points" memorandum in support of the legislation;

• • Testimony before the Tennessee Senate Judiciary Committee on Senate Bill 0892 (April 1, 2015); (Bill passage effective July 1, 2015 with retroactive application);

• • Consultation on pending legislation prohibiting class actions in health care liability actions against skilled nursing facilities;

• • Consultation on pending legislation defining "lack of capacity" for purposes of the statute of limitations and its potential impact on the enforceability of arbitration agreements.

 

 

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• • Judge Grants Defendant’s Motion for Protective Order Regarding Plaintiff’s Rule 30.02(6) Deposition Notices

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