Former world 100 metres record holder Tim Montgomery has asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to annul his two-year doping ban because of a conflict of interest involving a CAS arbitrator.
In a letter to CAS secretary-general Matthieu Reeb, Montgomery's lawyers said the head of the CAS arbitration panel had not advised them that his firm also represented the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada).
Montgomery, 30, was banned for two years on December 13th after the three-man CAS panel unanimously accepted evidence from the US Anti-Doping Agency that he had taken banned substances provided by the Californian laboratory Balco.
In the letter, attorneys Robert W. McFarland and Amy Morrissey Turk said Montreal barrister Yves Fortier had not advised Montgomery that his law firm Ogilvy Renault also represented Wada.
They said Fortier's partner Stephen Drymer had acted as a clerk for the panel.
"This clear conflict of interest is egregious and significantly undermines the integrity of the entire CAS process," the letter said. "It is demanded that CAS immediately vacate the arbitration award...and dismiss the doping charges brought against Mr Montgomery."
In response Reeb said CAS was not the appropriate forum to lodge an appeal. "Any request for annulment of a CAS award can be brought before the Swiss Federal Tribunal only," he said.
In a letter to Reeb, Fortier said there had been no conflict of interest."The allegation has no basis either in fact or in law," Fortier said.
McFarland said the Swiss Federal Tribunal was not Montgomery's only option.
"The next step will be an appeal either to the Swiss federal court or a federal district court here in the States," he said.