Team NZ to sue Alinghi

The America's Cup has been mired in court for months since U.S. team BMW Oracle claimed Alinghi set unfair rules for the next Cup with an illegitimate challenger.

The New York Supreme Court found in favour of BMW Oracle although the judge is now hearing other arguments brought by Alinghi and has not made a final ruling.

Team New Zealand, who lost last year's America's Cup to Alinghi in a thrilling 5-2 series in Valencia, laid similar charges at the Swiss team's door, saying the rules were "completely one-sided".

"They abused their competitive power to stifle other teams," managing director Grant Dalton told Reuters by phone from New York, where Team New Zealand has lodged its two cases.

Dalton said Team New Zealand had also asked for financial compensation in the "tens of millions of euros" now that ACM has delayed the next America's Cup indefinitely.

The cases are against Alinghi, its yacht club SNG, its organising body ACM, and its owner Ernesto Bertarelli.

Alinghi said they were disappointed by Team New Zealand's action, saying they were committed to getting the event back on track.

"These actions are totally without merit, wildly miss the target and will be defended rigorously," Alinghi's legal counsel Lucien Masmejan said in a statement.

"We share the sailing community's frustration in the delays affecting the America's Cup but Alinghi, as trustee, is duty bound to defend its position in the current legal action and to preserve the integrity of the America's Cup.

"We have repeatedly made it clear that Alinghi welcomes a swift court resolution and wants to get the action back on the water as soon as possible."

Team New Zealand challenged for the 33rd America's Cup on the condition it would be raced in 2009 in Valencia.

Instead it is now locked in lawyers' offices and is unlikely to be raced before 2011, possibly after a head-to-head between Alinghi and BMW Oracle, depending on the outcome of that case.

Justice Herman Cahn is expected to give his final ruling on the case between BMW Oracle and Alinghi soon. Cahn will also take on the Team New Zealand filing which will run separately.

Dalton said that not only did the delay mean teams had to stretch two-year budgets over three or four years but also that potential sponsors who were wowed by the 32nd America's Cup have been put off the event by all the bickering since.

"There's a lot of confusion. What was on the crest of a wave undoubtedly has been damaged," Dalton said.

While some America's Cup teams like Alinghi and BMW Oracle are backed by billionaires and spent more than £70 million on the last Cup, others are fully reliant on sponsorship and work on as little as a tenth of the big boys' budget.

Dalton said Alinghi could easily have avoided the delay by accepting a settlement BMW Oracle proposed after they won the first case and which was agreed by most of the other teams who had challenged for the next Cup.

"It was completely avoidable. BMW Oracle proposed a completely reasonable settlement and they still refused to negotiate in any shape or form," he said.