Virgin Cruises seeks dismissal of Veitch lawsuit

Virgin Cruises has asked a federal court to dismiss a
lawsuit filed in March that alleges it misappropriated the basics of its cruise
strategy from Colin Veitch, a former cruise line CEO turned consultant.

In a motion filed June 1, Virgin argues that any agreement
between Veitch’s consulting firm and Virgin Management USA falls short of a
working partnership that could form the basis of a lawsuit.

In addition, the response says communications between the
two parties indicated that a preliminary agreement on how income would be
allocated between the partners was subject to later revision. In filing suit,
Veitch said that Virgin unilaterally revised the financial terms of the
partnership once it realize the potential for profits. At that point, the
partnership fell apart, the lawsuit said.

Virgin also asks that the Veitch lawsuit be dismissed
because it names a number of Virgin entities as defendants but fails to say
what misconduct is attributable to each
defendant.

Virgin, which is associated with Richard Branson’s Virgin
Group, said in December it will enter the cruise business by building two new
“world-class cruise ships.”

The Veitch lawsuit contends that the business outlined by
Virgin was based on a plan for “ultra ships” that he presented to Virgin in
2011.

Veitch was Norwegian Cruise Line’s CEO from 2000 to 2008.