Kevin Duff is a partner in the firm of Rachlis Duff Adler & Peel, LLC.  He has trial and appellate experience in a variety of complex commercial litigation matters including: financing and lending; corporate, securities, partnership and contract disputes; class actions; and Olympic disputes.  The following highlights some of this experience:
 

Experience

• Corporate, Securities, and Partnership Disputes
• Financing & Lending
• Class Action Experience
• Olympic Disputes
• Hubadex Receivership

Corporate, Securities, and Partnership Disputes

• Mr. Duff currently serves as receiver in SEC v. Huber, et al., No. 09-cv-6068, which is pending before the Honorable Ruben Castillo in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.  The Huber Receivership involves a $40 million Ponzi scheme, and as the court-appointed receiver, Mr. Duff has worked to freeze, seize, secure, evaluate, manage, and liquidate various assets, including but not limited to cash, investments, real property, personal property, life insurance, and other assets.

• Mr. Duff also is the receiver in Friedhopfer, et al. v. Dachman, et al., No. 10-cv-6162, which is pending before the Honorable Rebecca Pallmeyer in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.  This receivership involves the assets of defendants who are subject to claims of serial predatory fraud.

• Mr. Duff currently represents an officer and shareholder of a closely held international engineering consortium corporation, as well as the estate of the corporation’s former majority shareholder and chief executive officer, against multi-million dollar claims of fraud and breach of fiduciary duty in connection with the valuation and purchase of a minority shareholder’s interest in the corporation.  Mr. Duff also represented and obtained dismissal of all claims against the corporation.

• Mr. Duff currently represents a client in a legal malpractice action, which includes negligence claims against an investment consulting firm, involving an alleged $7 million in securities options.  Mr. Duff prevailed on a motion for summary judgment and the trial court’s ruling was affirmed by the Illinois Appellate Court.

• Mr. Duff pursued claims on behalf of the Special Litigation Committee, certain trustees, and an LLC of a Taft-Hartley Pension Fund that was sold 55 acres of real estate for $10 million, when its value was closer to $4 million, as a result of a bribe-induced transaction.  The case included claims of securities law violations, breaches of contract, fraud, RICO, and breaches of fiduciary duty.  Together with co-counsel at Kirkland & Ellis, Mr. Duff recovered more than the original investment amount from responsible parties by the time the last defendant settled only weeks before trial.

• Mr. Duff represented a commercial real estate development firm in connection with a $25 million dispute between investors over the development of a condominium tower in downtown Chicago.  The claims at issue included fraud and breaches of fiduciary duties.  The case was resolved by settlement.

• Mr. Duff successfully represented the nation’s largest community college district in an accounting malpractice matter against two of the (then) big five accounting firms, where the issue involved illegal investment trading practices and impermissible derivative mortgage-based securities in a $100 million investment portfolio.

Financing & Lending

• Mr. Duff represented a lender in an action to enforce a guaranty following a default on a subordinated secured note issued in connection with the sale of corporate assets.  The matter involved a distressed company in liquidation, the sale of the senior secured note, and multiple guaranties.  The client obtained a partial summary judgment in which the court ruled that a key transaction upon which the guarantor relied for his defense was a sham.

• Mr. Duff currently serves as local counsel to a group of affiliated life-insurance financing and brokerage companies in connection with a fraud action against a well-known bank. The matter involves a $100 million life-insurance premium-finance program and related loan, security, and guaranty agreements.

• Mr. Duff represented a trust fund in a $30 million action to enforce guaranty and pledge agreements against borrowers who formerly stood as one of the nation’s largest franchisees of family restaurants.  The case required close coordination with bankruptcy and real estate counsel.

• Mr. Duff defended an Alabama steel company against attempts to demand and accelerate payment from borrowers and guarantors of principal and prepayment penalties on $80 million in financing.  The case was settled with a restructured set of loan papers, which provided each lender with full recovery and provided the steel company the time necessary to recover from a downturn in the steel industry.

• Mr. Duff represented an aluminum products manufacturer against a financier’s claim to stock options and commissions in connection with a $203 million financing facility for an aluminum processing plant purchase.  After Mr. Duff won a key battle over a disputed arbitration provision, the plaintiff dropped his efforts to proceed with the litigation in Los Angeles and the case proceeded as a declaratory judgment action in Chicago.

• Mr. Duff also represented the lender in a $625 million foreclosure action that gained title to twin office towers in downtown Chicago.  This case was the largest foreclosure proceeding in the history of the state of Illinois (by a factor of four at the time) and one of the largest in the nation.  The case was initiated by successfully obtaining an ex parte temporary restraining order and having a receiver appointed to manage the properties on an interim basis.

Class Action Experience

• Mr. Duff has handled multiple class actions involving the Fair Credit Reporting Act pending in the Northern District of Illinois.  He has argued two of the leading cases in the Seventh Circuit on alleged violations of Section 1681b and 1681m of the FCRA.

• Mr. Duff served as counsel for an international petrochemical company to coordinate the defense and strategy in numerous consumer class actions and third party litigation in federal and state courts throughout the United States, in Canada, and before the Consumer Products Safety Commission in Washington, D.C. arising out of the sale of high temperature plastic vent pipe.

• Mr. Duff has served as local counsel for a national telecommunications company since 2002 in the Northern District of Illinois and the Seventh Circuit in connection with a series of class actions arising out of fiber optic cable right of way disputes and on appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.       

Olympic Disputes

Mr. Duff has more than a decade of experience representing Olympic athletes.  His experience includes litigation, investigations, dispute resolution, negotiation, and advising athletes in grievances and other disputes with National Governing Bodies, other athletes, coaches, and the USOC. These disputes have related to Olympic selection criteria, athlete rights and due process, eligibility, USOC and NGB Bylaws, the Ted Stevens Sports Act, funding, sponsorship, equipment, Olympic qualifying events, and Olympic events.  He has represented athletes in federal lawsuits, including before United States District Courts, the United States Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.  He has also appeared before the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) during the Olympic Games.

Hubadex Receivership

Kevin B. Duff is the acting receiver in connection with the lawsuit brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”)) against William A. Huber and Hubadex, Inc. (as defendants) and against The Quarter Funds, L.P., The Symmetry Fund, L.P., The Trimester Fund, and Ruthann Huber (as relief defendants). The lawsuit is titled, SEC v. William A. Huber, et al., No. 09-cv-6068 (N.D. Ill.). The lawsuit is pending before the Honorable Ruben Castillo in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. The Court’s “Order Appointing Receiver” appoints Mr. Duff as Receiver for all assets of whatever kind and wherever situated, of Defendants William A. Huber and Hubadex, Inc. (the “Receivership Assets”), and the recoverable assets of whatever kind and wherever situated, of Relief Defendants The Quarter Funds, L.P., The Symmetry Fund, L.P., The Trimester Fund, and Ruthann Huber (collectively, the “Recoverable Assets”).

Link to the Hubadex Receivership page