Attorney Livia Frye made her mark in Pine Valley by becoming entangled in one the largest murder cases in the small town's history. She
teamed
up with Trevor Dillon and Jackson Montgomery to exonerate Brian Bodine for the
murder of Will Cortlandt. Through the tumultuous time, she had no idea who she
could trust in the new town, including Trevor, whose niece Hayley Vaughan was
raped by Will. Brian was exonerated for the murder after Janet was tricked into
confessing for the crime. Livia decided to make Pine Valley her new home and
relocated with her son, Terrence. Her ex-husband, Lucas Barnes, came to Pine
Valley too. He bagan to stir up trouble for Derek, Livia's brother, by hurting
his marriage to Mimi Frye. In the end, Derek and Livia supported each other
through his terror, and Lucas left Pine Valley. Tragedy hit close to home after son Terrence was attacked on the Pine Valley High School campus by a group of racist teens. His step-sister, Taylor Cannon, and Uncle, Derek Frye, infiltrated the group and arrested his attackers. Livia was fearful for her life in Pine Valley. That is, until she met Tom Cudahy. Tom comforted her through the ordeal, and the two fell in love. Best friend, Brooke English, pushed the couple together. Livia was very hesitant, but Tom assured
her
not to let the public make her decisions for her. Tom proposed to Livia, and
they were married with friends and family present. Old friend Peabo Bryson even
showed up to sing a duet with Livia. Tom and Livia met single mother Janine Wilson who could no longer raise her son, Jamal. They decided to adopt the boy from her. Little did they know, Jamal was the son of resident bad boy, Alec McIntyre. Adam Chandler revealed the truth of Jamal's paternity to protect Hayley from Alec. Livia and Tom where entangled in an uphill custody battle for young Jamal. Jamal even went so far as to file for a divorce from Alec. However, all their efforts seemed to be in vain. Alec won the case, but dropped the decision after seeing how much Jamal had loved the Cudahys.
In 1995, Livia was promoted to a judgeship out of Pine Valley. Tom, Terrence, Jamal and Livia relocated to a town nearby. Tom visited every once in a while, ensuring all was well with Livia and the children.
Livia returned to Pine Valley in 2003 as a favor to Jackson to defend Kendall Hart for the murder of Michael Cambias. With this, Livia was placed against Derek who lead the investigation against Kendall. Luckily, Derek fazed himself out of the trial, but she still had to put up with Kendall’s lies and ADA Justin
McCoy’s
prosecution. Livia tried her hardest to exonerate Kendall, but Greenlee du Pres
revealed Kendall’s pregnancy ruse ending the trial and Livia’s ability
to defend her client. In the end, Kendall's sister Bianca confessed to the murder.Livia enjoyed her time in Pine Valley so much, that she decided to abdicate her judge position to live in Pine Valley again. Moving in with Derek temporarily, she realized that many things had changed since her departure. While checking in on Jackson, she encountered her runaway niece, Danielle Frye, living with Reggie Montgomery. Livia reprimanded her for worrying her parents so much, and took her home to see her father.
Danielle was not going to be silenced when it came to Reggie. Livia was constantly put in the middle of Derek, Mimi, and Danielle's arguing. Mimi dropped off all of Danielle's belongings with Livia. Livia told Derek it was time for him to step up to the plate and be a father.
JR Chandler confided to Livia that he was pursuing a divorce from Babe Chandler. She was surprised to hear
that
he was dropping his claim weeks later. Then, Brooke hired Livia to exonerate
her son, Jamie Martin, for the crime of drugging Babe. Jamie was pointing the
finger at JR and Livia sensed he was right, but could not break privilege. She
decided she was going to defend Jamie, against any conflict of interest that
may have been apparent and reveal JR's sinister motives.