The POWER 30: Ronald J. Schutz

Robins Kaplan LLP

Ronald Schutz, chair of the executive board at Robins Kaplan spends about half a day as chair of the firm and the other half practicing law, much of which revolves around intellectual property. His practice is a combination of business disputes and intellectual property.

His biggest matter in the last 12 months was a case where the firm represented John F. Kennedy as Receiver for the Receivership Estate of Education Corporation of America et al. v. Avy Stein et. al. The firm represented the receiver in an action against certain former officers and directors of the Education Corporation of America alleging breach of fiduciary duty and other causes of action. The case settled for $28 million.  Schutz was lead counsel.

The lawsuit claimed the corporation didn’t provide students a way to complete their education when its colleges closed. ECA’s closure also resulted in over $100 million in student loan discharges, the suit said.

Schutz also helped rescue Chloe Coscarelli, celebrity vegan chef, and her business entity in an arbitration that restored her 50% ownership in the “By Chloe” restaurant company she founded and was valued in excess of $60 million.

In March 2021, on behalf of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, Robins Kaplan filed the first private lawsuit in the country against Martin Shkreli, the former CEO of Turing Pharmaceutical, and three other defendants for illegally monopolizing the market for Daraprim — which increased in price by more than 4,000% under Shkreli’s leadership. The Daraprim lawsuit was filed in federal district court in the Southern District of New York.

Schutz was trial counsel in Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, Inc. and Health Options, Inc. (“Florida Blue”) v. Davita, Inc. The firm represented Florida Blue in a health care fraud case against one of the largest dialysis providers in the United States. Florida Blue sought $95 million in compensatory damages as well as punitive damages. The case was set in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. The case settled after the first day of trial.