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Nicholas J. Horton

Senior Associate

Sacramento

As a former active duty Marine and combat veteran, Nick Horton understands adversity and pressure. Now as an employment litigator, he uses that experience to calmly guide clients through high-stakes collective and class actions.

Nick handles matters related to pay practices for global tech corporations, including a nationwide FLSA collective action seeking damages for up to 40,000 workers, multiple putative California class actions and a regulatory compliance matter, each affecting thousands of employees. When helping clients navigate these challenging cases, Nick draws upon his range of litigation experience. Prior to focusing on employment, Nick handled breach of contract, fraud, and unfair competition law cases in both federal and state courts, and was a member of an Orrick trial team that secured a $52.8 million verdict in a trade secrets trial. 

To help his clients avoid litigation, Nick walks them through the most recent employment laws, case trends and ways to mitigate potential loss.

Before attending law school, Nick served seven years as an infantry officer and instructor in the United States Marine Corps.

    • Represented Oracle America, Inc., in defending against a $6.6 billion breach of contract, fraud, false claims act, and civil RICO claims. The matter resolved very favorably to Oracle.
    • In a case hailed by the Daily Journal as one of the top defense verdicts of 2014, Nick was a member of a trial team for Sierra Railroad Company that obtained a federal jury verdict of $22.3 million in compensatory damages, $17.4 million in punitive damages, and a court award of $13.1 million in exemplary damages related to Sierra’a trade secret misappropriation, business tort, and breach of contract case against Patriot Rail LLC and Patriot Rail Corp. The trial team also achieved a complete defense verdict of Patriot Rail Corp.’s claims against Sierra.
    • Represented an international bank which resulted in the quashing a summons to appear in a California State Court.
    • Represented a state water agency as Defendant-Intervenors in a federal NEPA action.
    • Represented the former President and CEO of a construction management company in a breach of contract and employment action against his former employer.
    • Represented a Fortune 50 Company in connection with alleged inventory manipulation and alleged FCA violations.