Official in N.Y. Joins Cup Appeal

The San Diego Yacht Club received a boost Thursday in its attempt to regain the America’s Cup with the announcement that New York Atty. Gen. Robert Abrams will join in an appeal of last week’s court decision awarding the trophy to New Zealander Michael Fay.

Abrams will join the appeal because he disagrees with the decision by New York State Supreme Court Justice Carmen Ciparick and thinks the penalty was too severe, said his press secretary, David Fishlow.

Abrams will ask that, rather than award the Cup to New Zealand, the court overturn the decision or order that the races be rerun.

People connected with San Diego’s America’s Cup effort said Thursday that Abrams’ support could be useful in persuading the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court to overturn a lower court ruling forcing the club to relinquish the Cup. Whether Abrams’ entry will mean a stay of the lower court decision is unclear.

‘A Lot of Weight’

“It sure has a lot of weight that a responsible public official agrees that the yacht club did not violate the rules and that the decision of the judge was wrong,” said Mark Smith, one of the lawyers representing the club.

“It’s great to have the attorney general on your side,” said Tom Mitchell, America’s Cup Organizing Committee spokesman.

Although the announcement was greetedly enthusiastically by San Diego officials, it drew sarcasm from George L. Tompkins Jr., the lawyer representing Fay.

“It’s wonderful because the attorney general has been totally ineffective to date,” Tompkins said by telephone from his New York office. “He is just continuing a political favor to the mayor of San Diego.”

Sided With Club

Abrams has sided with the yacht club in the case since shortly after Fay filed suit in August, 1987, challenging the club’s hold on the America’s Cup. Abrams joined in the club’s defense after a request from San Diego officials that he examine the suit in light of his state responsibility to represent the public interest in public trusts such as the Deed of Gift, the 102-year-old set of rules that govern the Cup.

Ciparick ruled that, by racing a lighter catamaran against New Zealand’s larger monohull last September, the yacht club created “a gross mismatch” not in accordance with the “friendly competition between foreign countries” intended by the author of the Deed of Gift.

The catamaran, skippered by Dennis Conner, defeated the New Zealanders easily in the first two races of a best-of-three series.

Smith said he hopes the action means an immediate stay of Ciparick’s decision awarding the Cup to Fay and his Auckland-based Mercury Bay Boating Club. A stay would eliminate the possibility that physical possession of the Cup could pass to New Zealand before the appeal is settled.

Normally, when the New York attorney general appeals a state case, there is an automatic stay. But, because the yacht club is a party in the suit, officials for both sides said, it is not certain that the stay will apply.

The club and the attorney general will have 30 days after Ciparick signs an order making her decision official to file their appeals.