Sara M. Turner

Sara Turner is a shareholder in the Birmingham, Alabama, office and serves as co-chair of Baker Donelson’s Hospitality Industry Service Team. Sara’s trial experience includes product liability, drug and medical device, hospitality, timeshare, complex commercial litigation, class action and franchise claims.

She regularly serves as outside general counsel and coordinates her clients’ defense of claims nationwide. Sara also has experience in class action, multidistrict litigation and mass actions as well as serving as national counsel for these cases.

Sara is licensed in both Alabama and Minnesota, but litigates cases both nationally and internationally. In addition, her background includes reinsurance and complex insurance coverage matters. When a matter cannot be resolved, she puts her trial experience and her background’s breadth to work in front of arbitrators, judges and juries on behalf of her clients.

EDUCATION:

• University of Minnesota School of Law, J.D., 2003, cum laude
• Augustana College, B. A., Government/International Affairs, 1999, cum laude
• University of Economics, Prague, Czech Republic, 1998

ADMISSIONS:

• Alabama, 2006
• U.S. District Courts for the Northern, Middle and Southern Districts of Alabama, 2006
• Minnesota, 2003
• U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota, 2004
• U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, 2014

Representative Matters:

• Obtained summary judgment for a franchisor in a vicarious liability case the morning of trial, successfully avoiding a $4.5 million verdict which was awarded against the co-defendants.
• Negotiated a favorable settlement for one of the nation’s largest independently owned petroleum marketing companies in a complex commercial transaction involving biodiesel and other natural fuels.
• Represented a large franchisor in a high dollar hospitality-related franchise dispute.
• Successfully defended a products manufacturer in the accidental choking death of a three-year-old child.
• Represented a fertilizer manufacturer in a commercial dispute involving major crop loss damages.
• Defended various nursing homes in cases ranging from sexual abuse allegations to wrongful death matters.

Professional Honors & Activities:

• Vice Chair – DRI, Retail and Hospitality Committee (2017)
• Former Chair – Steering Committee, DRI Trucking Law Committee (Chair, Teleconference Subcommittee)
• Former Substantive Liaison between the DRI Young Lawyers Committee and the DRI Trucking Law Committee
• Member – International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC)
• Member – Board of Directors, Homewood Youth Cheerleading
• Member – Homewood Industrial Development Board