AP Photo/ Craig Ruttle

Two former Norwegian Cruise Line CEOs will square off against each other next week in a Miami trial over eyebrow-raising allegations of defamation and breach of contract.

Colin Veitch, who led the company from 2000 to 2008, is suing Norwegian and his successor Kevin Sheehan for what he claims were media smears and “mean-spirited discrimination and malice with regard to tax distributions on an equity instrument.” Sheehan left the company in 2015 under what Veitch alleges were less than honorable circumstances.

Veitch is seeking $30 million to $40 million in compensatory damages, and Miami-Dade Circuit Judge William Thomas is allowing him to seek punitive damages on a libel claim stemming from an email Sheehan sent the trade publication Travel Weekly in 2014 after it published glowing praise of Veitch's work at Norwegian, calling him a “visionary.”

Sheehan responded with detailed criticism of Veitch's initiatives, closing with, “There is a reason that seven years later your visionary is out of work.”

“To have an email sent by the company basically tearing down everything he ever did and ripping it apart in a malicious manner, that's obviously very traumatizing to one's reputation and his greatest accomplishments in his career,” Veitch's attorney Jeff Gutchess of AXS Law Group in Miami said. “That's primarily what that case is about.”

Veitch seems to hold nothing back in his 187-page lawsuit airing dirty laundry at his former company, which had $4.87 billion in revenue in 2016. Gutchess filed the case with colleague Daniel Tropin and Gunster shareholder Thomas Julin.

The lawsuit claims Sheehan intentionally shortchanged Veitch and other ex-employees by millions of dollars when he oversaw the conversion of company profit units, then hid the problem through misleading statements in the public company's filings. The lawsuit paints a picture of a spiteful Sheehan stuck in Veitch's shadow.

“Mr. Sheehan had been jealous of his predecessor's success from the commencement of his tenure as chief executive officer,” Veitch's complaint alleges. “He found that his predecessor's good reputation impeded his own aspirations, and his jealousy of Mr. Veitch was further fueled by his own poor reputation at NCL that developed after he engaged in numerous acts of misconduct and ultimately led to his unceremonious termination.”

The lawsuit claims Sheehan was ousted over complaints he had sexual relationships with employees.

Sheehan denies the allegations, which a Norwegian spokesperson called “outrageous and false” in a statement to the Miami Herald — prompting another libel claim from Veitch, who argued the statement made him out to be a liar.

Gutchess said the judge has not yet ruled on how much evidence the jury will be allowed to hear about the sexual misconduct allegations. Both Veitch and Sheehan are set to testify in a trial expected to last two weeks.

Norwegian and Sheehan are represented by Holland & Knight partners Sanford Bohrer, Alex Gonzalez and Israel Encinosa in Miami. Bohrer declined to comment on the case ahead of trial.

The case is not Veitch's first court battle. Last year, he settled a $300 million lawsuit against Virgin Group over a business plan for “Ultra Ships.”