Rule M4.2: Evidence is ‘new’

Section M — Recommendations For Protest Committees

This appendix is advisory only; in some circumstances changing these procedures may be advisable. It is addressed primarily to the protest committee chair but may also help judges, protest committee secretaries, race committees and others involved in hearings.

In a hearing, the protest committee should weigh all testimony with equal care; should recognize that honest testimony can vary, and even be in conflict, as a result of different observations and recollections; should resolve such differences as best it can; should recognize that no boat or competitor is guilty until a breach of a rule has been established to the satisfaction of the protest committee; and should keep an open mind until all the evidence has been heard as to whether a boat or competitor has broken a rule.

M4.2

Evidence is ‘new’

(a) if it was not reasonably possible for the party asking for the reopening to have discovered the evidence before the original hearing,
(b) if the protest committee is satisfied that before the original hearing the evidence was diligently but unsuccessfully sought by the party asking for the reopening, or
(c) if the protest committee learns from any source that the evidence was not available to the parties at the time of the original hearing.

Definitions in Context

Committee

The protest committee, the race committee or the technical committee.

Party

A party to a hearing is

(a) for a protest hearing: a protestor, a protestee;
(b) for a redress hearing: a boat requesting redress or for which redress is requested; a boat for which a hearing is called to consider redress under rule 61.1; a committee acting under rule 61.1;
(c) for a redress hearing under rule 61.4(b)(1): the body alleged to have made an improper action or improper omission;
(d) a person against whom an allegation of a breach of rule 69.1(a) is made; a person presenting an allegation under rule 69.2(e)(1);
(e) a support person subject to a hearing under rule 62 or 69; any boat that person supports; a person appointed to present an allegation under rule 62.2.

However, the protest committee is never a party.