Fran Phares is of counsel to Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman, where she focuses her practice on personal injury and wrongful death litigation stemming from major transportation accidents and pharmaceutical drug product liability cases across the nation.
Ms. Phares earned her law degree from Tulane University Law School and holds an undergraduate degree in Zoology from Louisiana State University. While in law school she clerked for the Orleans Parish District Attorney and tutored Tulane undergraduates in English.
After law school Fran worked as an Assistant District Attorney prosecuting cases for victims of felony crimes such as armed robbery, theft, rape, child abuse, and murder. During that time, she obtained the first-ever conviction in Louisiana of pharmacists for illegally selling prescription drugs to addicts. Thereafter, she gained much valuable research and writing experience and hands-on exposure to civil litigation as a Law Clerk for the 22nd Judicial District Court in St. Tammany and Washington Parishes, Louisiana. She also served for many years as a Magistrate Hearing Officer for child support issues in divorce lawsuits.
Before joining Baum Hedlund, Fran was instrumental in the settlement of over four hundred claims by hemophiliacs for AIDS infection from contaminated blood products. At Baum Hedlund she has worked to eliminate laws protecting tobacco companies from lawsuits by successfully urging the California Supreme Court to reject the notion that smokers are presumed to know that smoking is addictive and that smoking causes health hazards. This has cleared the way for long-time smokers to file claims for injuries which may have occurred decades after a smoker first became addicted to cigarettes. She has also successfully represented the families of antidepressant suicide victims in their cases against drug manufacturers.
Fran has participated in numerous writing and trial-skills seminars. She is a certified suicide-prevention counselor and hospice volunteer and has created a workshop for people who are living with and managing grief.
She recently traveled to India where she studied global ethics and sociology and partnered with Tibetan refugees in a cultural exchange program. In an effort to better serve her clients, she is currently pursuing a master’s degree in counseling and theology at Loyola University in New Orleans.
In her spare time, Fran enjoys browsing in art museums, reading historical novels, golfing, playing the piano, fishing, and walking her Welsh Corgi, Windsor. She facilitates a spirituality group for women in her community and sings in a gospel music folk group. She is an accomplished baker and loves to create new recipes. Fran has three grown children.
Born:
- Jackson, Mississippi, 1953
Education:
- Louisiana State University (B.S., 1975)
- Tulane Law School (J.D., 1981)
- National Institute for Trial Advocacy, 2006
- Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training, 2006
Admissions:
- Louisiana, 1981
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana, 1996
- U.S. District Court, Middle District of Louisiana, 1998
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 2003
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of Indiana, 2005
- U.S. District Court, Western District of Michigan, 2007
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin, 2007
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, 2007
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit, 2009
- U.S. Supreme Court, 2010
- U.S. District Court, District of Colorado, 2011
Magistrate Ad Hoc:
- Support Enforcement Division, 22nd Judicial District Court, Louisiana 1990-2003
Member:
- Louisiana State Bar
- Louisiana State Bar Association
- Greater Convington Bar Association
- Assistant District Attorney, New Orleans Parish, Louisiana, 1981-1983
- Law Clerk, 22nd Judicial District Court, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, 1983-1990
Awards and Honors:
- AV® 5.0 out of 5 Peer Review Rated through Martindale Hubbell
- Listed, Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers
- Who's Who in America
- Who’s Who in American Law
Pro Bono & Civic Activities:
- Certified St. Joseph Hospice volunteer
- Certified LOSS volunteer (counseling to families of suicide victims)
Published Cases:
- State v. Paquette 423 So. 2d 797 (La. App. 4th Cir., 1982)
- State v. Marquer 446 So. 2d 1258 (La. App. 4th Cir., 1984)
- Doe v. Parauka 714 So. 2d 701 (La., 1998)
- Smith v. Cutter Biological 770 So. 2d 392 (La. App. 4th Cir., 2000)
- Grisham v. Philip Morris USA 403 F. 3d 631 (9th Cir., 2005)
- Tucker v. GlaxoSmithKline 2006 WL 753128 (S.D. Ind., 2006)
- Grisham v. Philip Morris USA 40 Cal.4th 623, 151 P.3d 1151, 54 Cal.Rptr.3d 735 (2007)
- Grisham v. Philip Morris USA 482 F. 3d 1131 (9th Cir., 2007)
- Tucker v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., 596 F.Supp.2d 1225 (S.D.Ind. 2008) (granting plaintiff's motion for reconsideration and holding that plaintiff's claims are not preempted by federal law)
- Knipe v.SmithKline Beecham, 583 F.Supp.2d 553 (E.D.Pa 2008) (holding that plaintiffs' claims are not preempted by federal law)
- Knipe v. SmithKline Beecham, 583 F.Supp.2d 602 (E.D.Pa. 2008) (holding that a drug manufacturer owes a duty to warn regarding risks associated with off-label uses and allowing plaintiffs' claims for compensatory and punitive damages to proceed to the jury)
- Cunningham v. SmithKline Beecham, 255 F.R.D. 474 (N.D.Ind. 2009) (ordering defendant to produce documents and awarding sanctions)
- Forst v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., 602 F.Supp.2d 960 (E.D.Wis. 2009) (holding that Wisconsin has not adopted the learned intermediary doctrine and allowing all of plaintiffs' claims, including, negligence, fraud and punitive damages to proceed to the jury)
- Forst v. Smithkline Beecham Corp., 639 F.Supp.2d 948 (E.D.Wis.,2009) (holding that plaintiffs' claims are not preempted by federal law)
- Tucker v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., 701 F.Supp.2d 1040 (S.D.Ind.2010) (denying defendant’s learned intermediary defense and further allowing plaintiffs’ experts to testify regarding the causal association between antidepressants and increased suicidal behavior)
Practice Areas:
- Class Actions
- Complex and Multi-District Litigation
- Personal Injury Law
- Pharmaceutical Drug Liability
- Product Liability
- Wrongful Death Law
FRANCES M. PHARES, of counsel