It's complicated. But clear. Today the New York Supreme Court granted the order requested by the Golden Gate Yacht Club of San Francisco (GGYC) to require the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG), the defending yacht club of the 33rd America's Cup, to promptly and with all due despatch speed up the process to review the validity of the challenging yacht club, Club Náutico Español de Vela (CNEV).
That's the legal determination.
Basically, it says to Prince Alinghi and his people, you accepted this (sham) challenger. Your acceptance has been challenged. You appointed an arbitration panel. Now the arbitration panel must expeditiously move forward the process of review.
In other words, you can't delay this. The arbitration panel must act.
And that's all, you might ask? Well, that's exactly what had to happen first.
From GGYC and Oracle's perspective, the validity of the challenger is critical. If the Spanish challenger (CNEV) is invalidated, then Larry Ellison's Oracle challenge moves into the spotlight.
If GGYC and Oracle prevail, there could be a catamaran challenge as soon as everyone agrees it can happen.
But if CNEV is invalidated, few think that GGYC would push for a catamaran series.
Ellison's pragmatism suggests they would use the ruling as leverage to persuade Prince Alinghi and his captive minions to adopt a sane Protocal for the 33rd America's Cup, one in keeping with the protocol for this year's challenge, which was judged a huge success by everyone involved. They would encourage everyone to move forward with a healthy America's Cup in Valencia at a proper time, probably in two years.
That's a good outcome.
The sad fact about the arbitration panel is that it's not an independent group. It's a captive group, created by Prince Alinghi and the Société Nautique de Genève (SNG).
The panel's big issue is simple. Will panel members (appointed by Alinghi) act objectively, in accord with the established traditions of the America's Cup? Or will they do the Prince's bidding?
Panel members (three of them) include Henry Peter, a Swiss mega-lawyer, professor and major participant in Swiss legal, professional and corporate circles, an establishment figure, to be sure; Graham McKenzie, a New Zealand lawyer, sailor, corporate lawyer, and trustee for corporate and civic organizations; and Luis María Cazorla Prieto, a Spanish mega-lawyer, professor, legal author, and lawyer to the Spanish Parliament and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Prieto is the big cat, followed by Henry Peter, a pale imitation, and McKenzie, a good Kiwi.
What they decide is critical. And the greatest challenge they face moving forward is their independence.
Are they legitimate members of an independent panel? Will they decide this issue on its merits? Or will they do the bidding of the Prince who appointed them?
We shall see.
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1 comment:
If you are going to write a blog about the AC you need to get a better understanding of what is going on.
The N.Y. Supreme Court is not telling SNG to speed up its own arbitration procedure, (which is a pointless excercise anyway as it has no jursidiction over the Deed of Gift), it is telling it to respond to GGYC's suit in the N.Y. S.C.
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