 |
 |
 |
|
|
|||
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
OneWorld in the dock
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (CNN) -- The America's Cup is once again under threat of being embroiled in a legal battle after the International Jury ruled on Tuesday that a protest by Team Dennis Conner against U.S. rival OneWorld was valid, and that it had jurisdiction to hear the complaint. The protest, filed on Monday by the New York Yacht Club's Team Dennis Conner, alleged that OneWorld, backed by Seattle billionaires Craig McCaw and Paul Allen, had broken the all-embracing Fair Sailing rule by possessing other teams' design secrets. Italian syndicate Prada and Team Dennis Conner had joined forces on Sunday to ask the Cup's Arbitration Panel to consider an affidavit from former OneWorld employee Sean Reeves.
It alleges that additional evidence has come to light suggesting that OneWorld did not fully confess all of its breaches of the design protocol during an admission in December 2001. In August, OneWorld was penalised one point in the round robin series of the Louis Vuitton Cup -- the challenger series for next year's America's Cup. But Team Dennis Conner and Prada now say OneWorld should be thrown out of the event. The additional protest was filed after the Arbitration Panel had indicated that it would take at least six weeks to make a decision. By this time the semifinals should be over and Team Dennis Conner might be eliminated. Sitting in Auckland, venue for the Louis Vuitton and America's Cup, the Jury said it would wait until the end of the quarterfinal repechage to hear the protest, since many of the potential witnesses in the case are on the OneWorld team. The last scheduled race day for the repechage series is December 1. In the first race on Tuesday, OneWorld beat Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes. (Full story) The Jury is due to meet representatives from both syndicates on Wednesday when Team Dennis Conner will submit a written list of specific charges against OneWorld, along with a list of witnesses it hopes to call. One of these witnesses could be Reeves, Team New Zealand's former rules adviser, who was used by OneWorld to recruit key team members including Team New Zealand's designer Laurie Davidson. After dismissing Reeves in April 2001, OneWorld won a civil case against him, including a gagging order, for breaching his separation agreement. Bob Ratcliffe, OneWorld's executive director, says his team has already paid its penalty and the move by Prada and Team Dennis Conner is a "desperate measure by desperate people." He added: "The issues have already been dealt with by the panel. Raising them will serve no purpose beyond galvanizing the Seattle team to fight and win on the water where yacht racing belongs." The problem for the Louis Vuitton Cup organisers on Tuesday was how to keep the challenger elimination series on schedule after losing 16 out of 37 race days because of too much or too little wind. The dispute has the potential to disrupt the event for months, but they are required to submit a valid challenger to face Team New Zealand by February 10 for the best-of-seven America's Cup Match that starts on February 15. The Team Dennis Conner protest should be resolved early next week. But if the International Jury rules against OneWorld there are implications for all the challengers, including those who have already been eliminated and might demand redress, putting the whole Louis Vuitton Cup in disarray. The submission to the Arbitration Panel is even more complicated. The panel, made up of five members worldwide, took nine months to complete the earlier ruling against OneWorld in August. The Panel has asked for all submissions to be made by December 24.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
