Richard R. Winter
Partner
Richard R. Winter
+1.312.715.5796
Overview
Rich Winter is an attorney in Holland & Knight's Chicago office. Mr. Winter focuses his practice on commercial litigation.
Mr. Winter has tried cases in Illinois, Texas, Washington, Georgia, Nebraska and South Dakota, and he has appeared in federal and state courts in 14 additional states. His experience includes litigation and resolution of disputes related to the Second Amendment, as well as for clients involved in the manufacturing, warehousing and distribution, insurance, healthcare, life sciences, information technology (IT) services and transportation industries.
Mr. Winter's litigation experience includes the following:
- Corporate/limited liability company (LLC) governance and ownership. Representation of shareholders in closely held corporations and limited partners in fiduciary duty, ownership and oppression disputes
- Insurance. Litigation of coverage claims – including commercial general liability, property, errors and omissions (E&O), directors and officers (D&O) liability, fidelity, business interruption, professional liability – and agency litigation
- Trade secrets. Prosecution and defense of trade secret claims
- Antitrust and business torts. Prosecution and defense of price fixing, monopolization and exclusive dealing claims, as well as civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO), Lanham Act, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud and tortious interference claims
- Contingency fee commercial litigation. Prosecuted contract, antitrust, business torts, trade secrets, insurance coverage and shareholder matters, with 16 cases resulting in settlement/judgments between $1 million and $725 million
- Healthcare. Prosecuted and defended physician privileging, healthcare antitrust, insurance and contract issues
- Business valuation-related litigation. Various representations involving business valuation issues, ranging in values from $1 million to $500 million
Representative Experience
- Recovery of $725 million on behalf of the founder and majority shareholder in oppression and breach of fiduciary duty claims
- Multiple recoveries of $10 million or more in three separate breach of fiduciary duty cases brought on behalf of minority shareholders/limited liability company (LLC) members
- Obtained dismissal of Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and state law claims brought against a valuation firm in an $800 million litigation related to an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP)
- Seven-figure recovery on behalf of Class B unit holders in a multimillion-dollar redemption dispute with a private equity firm
- Recovery of $10 million on behalf of a hospital in litigation involving professional liability coverage
- Recovery of $2.35 million in two Lanham Act claims against a competitor on behalf of a managing general agent
- Recovery of $1 million on "employee dishonesty" claim in litigation against a fidelity bond insurer on behalf of a bank
- Defense of a managing general agent in claims made by carriers alleging violation of underwriting guidelines
- Defense of a national insurance broker in claims arising out of an alleged $100 million loss of goods in French warehouse fire
- Managed investigation by a crime insurer of eight-figure employee embezzlement
- Defense of a publicly traded distributor of electrical components against claim arising out of disposition of product line and alleged breach of an asset purchase agreement's representations and warranties
- Defense of a publicly traded distributor of electrical components against claim that stock used to make acquisition was overpriced due to accounting irregularities
- Recovery of a seven-figure sum on behalf of a building products distributor arising out of trade secret and restrictive covenant claims
- Defense of information technology consultants in trade secret and non-competition claims
- Defense of insurance brokers in trade secret and non-competition claims
- Defense of a distributor of specialty candies against a claim that the formula for a nationally distributed product was a trade secret belonging to another
- Representation of a publicly traded business forms manufacturer in prosecuting patent-related antitrust tying claim, and defense of patent infringement claim
- Defense of class action alleging price fixing among 15 defendants in bidding during Cook County, Illinois, property tax sales
- Prosecution of monopolization and exclusive dealing claims by a radiologist against a physician group
- Defense of a hospital holding company against alleged violations of the Sherman Act and Section 1981
- Obtained a defense verdict in favor of the maker of $1 million promissory note arising out of a merger
- Recovery of seven figures in a breach of contract claim brought on behalf of an information technology services provider
- Defense of a Chicago newspaper in class and individual actions arising out of an alleged overstatement of circulation
- Successfully challenged a newspaper claim of reporter's privilege on behalf of an insurance company seeking photos of exterior of burning building
- Defense of class actions brought under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA)
- Obtained dismissal of a Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower retaliation claim and summary judgment on an Energy Reorganization Act (ERA) retaliation claim on behalf of an operator of nuclear power plants
Credentials
Education
- Chicago-Kent College of Law, J.D., with honors
- University of Illinois, B.S.
- DePaul University, MBA
Bar Admissions/Licenses
- Illinois
Court Admissions
- U.S. Supreme Court
- U.S. Tax Court
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida
- U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan
- U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska
- U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada
- U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma
- U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
- U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of South Dakota
- U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia
- U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington
- U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin
Memberships
- American Bar Association
- Chicago Bar Association
Honors & Awards
- The Best Lawyers in America guide, Commercial Litigation, 2026
- Holland & Knight Pro Bono All-Star, 2020, 2021
- Illinois Bar Foundation Honorary Fellow, December 2018
- Chicago-Kent College of Law Public Interest Awards, Outstanding Pro Bono Service Award, 2018
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Award for Excellence in Pro Bono and Public Interest Service, 2013