| AUCKLAND, NZL-(24-11-2002) In a joint submission, Team Dennis Conner and the Prada Challenge have asked the America’s Cup Arbitration Panel to take another look at the OneWorld case, alleging “multiple contraventions of Article 15.3(c) of the Protocol.”
15.3 (c) of the America’s Cup Protocol concerns design information, and specifically states that a Challenger must engage independent designers, ‘having no involvement with any other Challenger or Defence program.’
In the middle of August, the Arbitration Panel found that OneWorld had breached the America’s Cup Protocol based on submissions by the Seattle-based team. The Panel found OneWorld, through its employees, did have design information that originated with Team New Zealand, America True and Prada from the 1999/2000 America’s Cup. But the Panel accepted OneWorld evidence that it had not used that material for design purposes.
The Panel penalised OneWorld one-point to be deducted from its score after the second Round Robin of the Louis Vuitton Cup.
In the Application submitted on Sunday in Auckland, Prada and Team Dennis Conner refer to the special status of the Yacht Clubs they represent in seeking a further determination of whether OneWorld has acted in accordance with the rules.
“NYYC as longest standing trustee of the America’s Cup, and YCPA as present Challenger of Record believe that the conduct alleged is of such seriousness that it must be thoroughly considered by the Panel. There has been, and continues to be widespread public and media speculation concerning the conduct by SYC/OWC of its challenge, based in at least one respect on SYC/OWC’s own document. It is in the interests of the event that the truth of the allegations, which on the evidence available to them the applicants believe have a proper basis in fact, be determined.”
Team Dennis Conner and Prada want the Arbitration Panel to re-visit its earlier ruling – they say that OneWorld wasn’t fully forthcoming when it asked the Arbitration Panel to Rule on violations it admitted to ‘inadvertently making’.
The two challengers claim that OneWorld was obligated, but failed, to make a full disclosure of the design information it had that had originated with other Syndicates. (In the earlier Ruling, the Arbitration Panel made clear that it wasn’t empowered to undertake a fact-finding enquiry, and could only rely on submissions.)
To back up their claims, Prada and Team Dennis Conner have included over 70-pages of evidence, consisting of affidavits, and correspondence.
“This is a desperate act, by desperate people who want to fight this on shore instead of on the water,” said Bob Ratliffe, Executive Director of the OneWorld Challenge. “Our lawyers have reviewed the submission and there’s nothing new in it, This information has all been around for a long time, and if they wanted to fight this, they should have done it before the September 30th deadline.
“We’ve dealt with this, we’ve been penalised, we’ve taken the penalty and we’re ready to move on. That being said, we welcome the opportunity for a hearing where the burden of proof is on them, if it comes to that.”
The Arbitration Panel consists of five members, two appointed by the Defender, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, two appointed by the Challenger of Record, the Yacht Club Punta Ala, and the fifth member is appointed by the other four.
The Panel will now consider the validity of the Application before deciding what further action, if any, to take.
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