Reeves' defence against OneWorld rejected

The Auckland lawyer at the centre of claims he tried to sell secrets from America's Cup syndicate OneWorld Challenge has had one plank of his defence thrown out of court in the United States.

Sean Reeves' "unclean hands" defence against OneWorld, in which he said they had broken Cup rules so could not sue him, has been struck out by a Seattle court.

OneWorld last year launched a civil lawsuit against Reeves, their former operations manager and a former Team New Zealand rules adviser, saying he had tried to sell design secrets worth US$2.5 million ($5.4 million) to rival syndicate Oracle Racing of California.