The Cup ‘n the Courts
by Jake on Sep.10, 2007, under America's Cup
The hearing to get a decision to accelerate the case of GGYC (Golden Gate Yacht Club / Oracle) and SNG (Alinghi) is today at 2pm. However, the America’s Cup Management Arbitration Panel recently had their hearing and announced that the bid from Desafio Espanol was valid. Before you take too much validity from this decision, remember that the ACM is appointed by Alinghi and the arbitration panel is appointed by the ACM.
There’s a bunch of lawyer speak going on and although Bertarelli claims “It is not possible that we will lose. We have the best lawyers.”, their case isn’t exactly air tight. We won’t know much today other than if New York Court’s Justice Cahn feels that the case is worthy of being accelerated. Oh, and SNG has made a claim that they will expect compensation due to the damage this case has caused them.
I just think I realized something else. The Deed of Gift specifies that a Yacht club who is entitled to challenge for the cup must have regattas on the sea or an arm of the sea (I paraphrase loosely). Does SNG have regattas on an arm of the sea? They don’t even have access to the sea which is why the AC is raced in Valencia Spain – right? Could they also be fighting for their own validity should they find themselves in position of challenger again?
