Rule M4: REOPENING A HEARING (rule 63.7)

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.

REOPENING A HEARING (rule 63.7)

M4.1:

When a party, within the time limit, has asked for a hearing to be reopened, hear the party making the request, look at any video, etc., and decide whether there is any significant new evidence that might lead you to change your decision. Decide whether your interpretation of the rules may have been wrong; be open-minded as to whether you have made a mistake. If none of these applies refuse to reopen; otherwise schedule a hearing.

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.

Section M — Recommendations For Protest Committees

REOPENING A HEARING (rule 63.7)

M4.1:

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.