Matt Hardin Named 2024 Trial Lawyer of the Year by Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association

Nashville, TN – Matt Hardin has been named the 2024 Trial Lawyer of the Year, alongside Shea Callahan, by the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association. This award is for trial lawyers who have demonstrated superior skills and achieved an outstanding result for a client, acknowledging Hardin for his notable work on the record-setting Justin Bing vs. Roger Nagy, M.D. Eric Bentley, MD, Nashville Acute Trauma, PLLC et al, case.

Matt Hardin, a second-generation attorney from Cookeville, Tennessee, began his academic journey at Rhodes College before earning his master’s and law degrees from the University of Tennessee. He spent five years as an insurance defense attorney, gaining invaluable insight into the strategies insurance companies use to evaluate and value cases. This experience has proven crucial since he shifted his focus to representing plaintiffs. Today, Matt Hardin Law specializes in plaintiff personal injury, car and tractor-trailer accidents, wrongful death, medical malpractice, and premises liability. Shea Callahan, who Hardin partnered with for Bing case, is a Cookeville lawyer who concentrates on complex medical malpractice cases and is a partner at Callahan and Binkley.

For the last seven years, Hardin and Callahan have dedicated their time to helping Robert Justin Bing, a man who suffered severe complications that resulted in permanent brain damage after what should have been a routine surgery in 2016, achieve justice. At the time of the event of the lawsuit, Mr. Bing was a 26-year-old-man who had recently moved to Nashville. He had a high-paying job and a bright future when he presented to Skyline Medical Center on April 21, 2016, with complaints of right upper quadrant pain. At the hospital, Justin Bing was diagnosed with an acutely inflamed gall bladder and surgery was performed to remove his gall bladder.

After being discharged home, Mr. Bing experienced increasing abdominal pain and loss of appetite and returned to Skyline that same day and was admitted shortly thereafter. Imaging studies and other diagnostic tests revealed Mr. Bing was leaking bile into his abdomen through his cystic duct. The bile leak was not treated, and Mr. Bing’s complaints were essentially ignored. Mr. Bing reported to his physicians that he was experiencing extraordinary 10 out of 10 pain level during this admission, which was an ominous sign he needed immediate intervention.

Soon after, the bile leaked into Mr. Bing’s belly and he became septic and experienced septic shock. On April 27, 2016, Justin Bing experienced his first of multiple cardiac arrests and strokes. Mr. Bing’s septic shock and cardiac arrests caused anoxic injuries to his vital organs including his brain. Mr. Bing was left with permanent brain damage, no short-term memory, and the need for 24-hour care, as a result of the defendants’ failure to treat him properly. His quality of life was forever changed.

The case was filed in Nashville Circuit Court in 2017 and tried in June and July of 2023 in front of Judge Joe Binkley. After nearly a month-long trial it took the jury only eight hours to reach a verdict. They found fault against Dr. Roger Nagy and Dr. David Bentley and their practice group related to the care they provided Bing at Tristar Skyline Hospital. The verdict, awarded on July 17th, 2023, was for $16.1 million, which broke the record for the largest malpractice verdict in Nashville at the time. The verdict was then appealed to the Court of Appeals and recently resolved nearly seven years after filing.

Matt is former President of the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association (TTLA) and has previously held positions as Immediate Past President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Parliamentarian within the TTLA. Matt is currently a Trustee for LIFT (Lawyers Involved for Tennessee). He continues to fight every day to get the best results for clients in their time of need.

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About Matt Hardin Law

The Personal Injury Attorneys at Matt Hardin Law understand that the initial trauma of an accident is not the end of your harm. We have seen the dramatic and lasting impact a serious injury or loss of a loved one can have on a family. Dealing with insurance companies and gathering evidence and documentation can become overwhelming after you’ve been injured. We are here to take that burden off you and become your voice with insurance companies, hospitals, and their attorneys so you don’t have to worry while you are healing from your injuries. We support and guide you through the entire legal process and will go to trial if necessary to obtain the compensation you deserve. If you were injured or lost a loved one in an accident, we are here to help. We serve clients throughout Tennessee and Kentucky with offices in Nashville, Memphis, Murfreesboro, Mt. Juliet, Cookeville, Clarksville, and Bowling Green and the surrounding areas.