r - readOGR: all features NULL

Getting an error when trying to load a shapefile via readOGR. readOGR works fine on my personal computer (mac) but I am running into issues on my work computer (windows).

When loading a shapefile using the typical syntax, I get the following error:

    Warning in ogrInfo(dsn = dsn, layer = layer, encoding = encoding, use_iconv = use_iconv,  :
      ogrInfo: all features NULL
    Error in readOGR(dsn = ".", "shp_example")  : no features found

For something reproducible, when I run the following code from the example from help(readOGR):

    library(rgdal)


    ogrDrivers()
    dsn <- system.file("vectors", package = "rgdal")[1]
    ogrListLayers(dsn)
    ogrInfo(dsn)

I get the following warning after "ogrInfo(dsn)", telling me that all features are null. Note that I only get this error on my work computer; this error does not occur on my personal computer:

    Warning in ogrInfo(dsn) : ogrInfo: all features NULL

Any ideas as to what is going on?