Thursday, August 30, 2007

Bertarelli and Ehman go at it...


There has already been an angry confrontation in the not so wonderful city of Copenhagen. It has been cold and miserable for the Farr 40 worlds, but some heat was injected from outside when Ernesto Bertarelli’s Alinghi asked that the chairman of the jury, Tom Ehman, should step down. As Ehman is at the centre of the litigation by GGYC, at the behest of BMW Oracle’s Larry Ellison, Alinghi, as a competitor, felt there could be some conflict of interest.

Ehman did not step down, doubtless because he thought that his four co-jurors would never allow themselves to be manipulated in what could be seen as vindictive behavour. But Bertarelli’s skipper, Brad Butterworth, is incensed and has written to the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) with a formal complaint.

The stage is being set for a bitter battle. Expect SNG (Alinghi) to have a formidable team of lawyers which will assert that the event already has a mechanism for resolving disputes. It is called the Arbitration Panel, appinted by ACM, and may well deliver an opinion prior to any court hearing. SNG may also say that any quarrels over mutual consent have been covered by the Club Nautico Espanol de Vela, the chosen Challenger of Record, having signed up to the new protocol - as, by implication, have challengers from South Africa, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Germany."- http://www.stuartalexander.eu/