Coutts facing long wait for decision

By JULIE ASH

The legal battle between Russell Coutts and Alinghi boss Ernesto Bertarelli is expected to drag on for at least a year.

The two parties are going through legal arbitration and met in Switzerland this week in a preliminary hearing.

Coutts' lawyer, Thomas Steinmann, who is based in Geneva, believes the procedure will take at least a year.

The NZ helmsman was fired from the Swiss syndicate in July for repeated violations of his duties.

But Coutts believes Bertarelli breached the contract and claims his role in Alinghi was at "considerable variance" with the one they had discussed.

It is not known if it was part of Coutts' contract that any dispute go to arbitration or whether the parties agreed to it. Arbitration is similar to the court process except that both parties agree on an arbitrator.

Coutts and Bertarelli have nominated one arbitrator each and those two have nominated a chairman.

One of the main advantages of arbitration is that cases tend to be heard quickly because it is just a matter of when the arbitrators are available, which is essential for Coutts, who still hopes to compete in the next Cup.

But Steinmann's estimation of a year seems a long time, says John Rooney, a senior associate at Auckland law firm Simpson Grierson.

"The longer the syndicate can tie up this whole process, the longer it is that Coutts isn't going anywhere. You can delay this sort of process considerably if that is part of your plan.

"But it might be quite complicated because it is not just about the relationship between Coutts and his syndicate, but also the rules of the America's Cup, which can be discussed if relevant.

"If part of the argument is about whether Coutts can sail for another team, not only would you expect there to be some restrictions in his employment contract stopping him from doing that, but they will also want to rely on the America's Cup protocol to say he can't."

The protocol was changed just before Coutts was sacked and now includes a "180-day rule" which precludes anyone who has sailed for more than that time in training or racing from joining another team.

This effectively prevents Coutts from competing in the 2007 event.

Although Bertarelli will probably use the protocol to his advantage, there is little Coutts can do about the rule change because the Cup jurors are the only ones who can interpret the protocol.

* Coutts and US sailor Paul Cayard have announced they are taking part in next year's Nations Cup to be sailed around the Mediterranean.