Partner
“The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience.” Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Supreme Court Justice Using over thirty years of business and litigation experience finding creative solutions to difficult problems and exploring new opportunities.
Nick Forestiere was admitted to the California State Bar in 1986. He is an esteemed litigation and business attorney with a wide range of who is admitted to practice before all trial and appellate courts in California as well as the Eastern, Northern and Central Districts of the U.S. District Courts and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Mr. Forestiere is rated “AV Preeminent” by Martindale-Hubbell, which is the highest possible ranking with respect to legal ability and ethics. His litigation expertise includes construction payment issues and defects, complex business and commercial litigation, professional negligence, employment law, class actions, insurance coverage and bad faith, commercial landlord/tenant disputes, property damage, secured and unsecured debt collections, creditor rights, bankruptcy, workers’ compensation, funeral and cemetery law, and personal injury disputes. Several national, state and local banks and businesses have retained Mr. Forestiere for his advice and representation concerning their daily operations. Mr. Forestiere represented the Insurance Commissioner of the State of California regarding debt collection and asset liquidation. He has substantial experience in business formations, organizations, purchase and sale of businesses and operational matters. He is also a California State Bar Special Master.
Mr. Forestiere started his legal career working for prominent insurance defense and business litigation law firms in Sacramento before operating his own successful law practice for eight years with offices in Sacramento and Fresno. Mr. Forestiere subsequently became in-house counsel for California’s largest, private workers’ compensation insurance carrier where he was responsible for opening and managing its Northern California legal office. As an adjunct faculty member at Fresno City College, Mr. Forestiere taught several legal and business classes and was a lecturer on legal topics for the California CPA Exam Review Course.
He received his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from California State Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo (1982) and received the Outstanding Graduating Senior Award for Contribution to the University. He obtained his Juris Doctor degree from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law (1986) where he was Editor-In-Chief of a six-volume legal treatise on California’s civil procedure and forms. He was also a judicial intern for the Sacramento Municipal and Superior Courts assisting with law and motion research and the rewriting of its local court rules. Mr. Forestiere joined our firm in 2003 and became a partner in Gurnee Mason Rushford Bonotto & Forestiere in 2011.
