Presents Appeals at the 1996 Summer NABC Cast
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Presents Appeals at the 1996 Summer NABC Cast Joan Gerard . as the Chairman Alan LeBendig & Peggy Sutherlin . as the Co-Chairmen And the members of the NABC Appeals Committee . as Themselves With Your Editors and Hosts Eric & Rich Copyright © 1996 by ACBL. Kokish Colker All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system—without the written permission of a copyright owner; except that short passages may be quoted without written permission if for the purpose of review. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Introduction ............................................................ ii Have you heard the news?? The Philadelphia Story has made the #1 Best Seller List for the 5th straight week . To get serious, I want to thank Eric and Richard for putting Forward .............................................................. iii together an Appeals Book that was not only informative but interesting to read. I know there are a few people who have made some constructive criticisms, but for the most part The Expert Panel....................................................... iv we have had nothing but rave reviews. Commentators are clamoring to write for the book, and readers are carrying this book along with the ACBL Bulletin in their back pockets to Cases ................................................................. 1 be sure they have it always available. I feel certain that the editors of the various publications that we have sent The Philadelphia Story to will review it favorably, and Closing Remarks From the Expert Panelists................................. 146 copies have also been bought by the World Bridge Federation for distribution to all the countries. We have had a smash hit with a rather mundane subject. Closing Remarks From the Editors........................................ 150 I think that our Appeals Committees are working towards becoming more professional. A Blueprint for Appeals................................................. 152 We seem to have more people willing to serve a bit more often and to try to work with our chairpeople in attempting to reach a consensus. Scribes are working harder to report The Panel’s Director and Committee Ratings ................................ 156 completely and accurately. This does not happen without a great deal of dedication. Special thanks not only must be given to Eric and Richard, but to Alan and Peggy, Peter NABC Appeals Committee .............................................. 157 Mollemet and Brian Moran as well as many, many others too numerous to mention. But trust me, you are not going unnoticed. Hopefully, the players who bring us all our work appreciate our efforts. They can show us how much they appreciate us by trying to understand that many of their protests should not even be heard. But that too will come in time. Perhaps enough players will appreciate our new Classic Bridge Game where there are no appeals. I know we all hope so. It will surely be better for our game if problems can be solved at the table instead of the committee room. Joan Levy Gerard, Chairman i ii FOREWORD THE EXPERT PANEL The appeals process at NABCs continues to improve, in part, we can dare to hope, due to Karen Allison, ageless, was born in Brooklyn and is a graduate of Brooklyn College. She the publication of appeals cases in the Daily Bulletin and the follow-up analysis by expert currently lives in Jersey City, NJ, with her two cats, Stella and Blanche. A former options panelists in these casebooks. But at times change can be slow and frustrating. A number trader, Karen is currently a bridge teacher and writer. When she isn’t “catting” around she of appeal-related issues continue to require development and/or standardization of their enjoys traveling, reading, the theater and concerts. She is a Vice-Chairman of the National procedures. These include: the role of procedural penalties; the conditions for judging an Appeals Committee, has served on the National Laws Commission since 1982, and has appeal to be “substantially without merit;” policies for dealing with cases involving worked on several revisions of both the Laws of Contract and of Rubber Bridge. Karen is lesser-skilled (non-Flight A) players; the integration of Active Ethicals into the high-level proudest of her silver medal for the Womens' Teams in Albuquerque in 1994 and winning game; procedures for dealing with hesitations at the table; special procedures for tempo- the CNTC and representing Canada in the Open Teams Olympiad in Monte Carlo in sensitive situations during the auction; more effective bidding-screen and bidding-box 1976. procedures; the role of the screening process in dealing with meritless appeals; “restoring equity” and the adjudication process; policies for balancing “the obligation to Alert and Bart Bramley, 48, was born in Poughkeepsie, New York. He grew up in Connecticut and fully disclose partnership methods,” and “the responsibility of players to exhaust all Boston and is a graduate of MIT. He currently resides in Chicago with his longtime reasonable means of seeking information they require from their opponents;” avoiding companion Judy Wadas. He is a stock options trader at the CBOE. Bart is a sports fan abuse of the judicial process; the criteria for when a call or play by a non-offender (especially baseball and specifically the NY Yankees), a golf enthusiast, enjoys word subsequent to an infraction will jeopardize the non-offenders’ rights to redress. The thirty- games and has been a Deadhead for many years. He is proudest of his 1989 Reno three cases published here raise concerns involving many of these issues. We will make Vanderbilt win and his participation in the 1991 Bermuda Bowl. He is captain of the 1996 our own recommendations regarding each of them, and have included a “Blueprint” for U.S. Olympiad team. He also credits Ken Lebensold as an essential influence in his Appeals which appears in our Closing Remarks. We invite you to join us in actively bridge development. exploring ways to resolve these and other isues as we move ahead. Talk to us. Give us feedback about our recommendations. Share with us your own solutions. Help us to Larry Cohen, 37, was born in New York. He is a graduate of SUNY at Albany. He identify other problem areas. Let’s actively work on improving the appeal process, and do currently resides in Little Falls, New Jersey. He is a Bridge Professional and author of so as expeditiously as possible. two books that are both best sellers: To Bid or Not To Bid and Following the Law. Larry is a Co-Director of the Bridge World Master Solver’s Club. He enjoys golf in his spare time. As in the previous casebook, we’ve asked our panelists to rate each Directors’ ruling and He has won sixteen National Championships. each Committee’s decision. While not every panelist rated every case (just as every panelist didn’t comment on every case), most did. The two ratings (averaged over the Ron Gerard, 52, was born in New York. He is a graduate of Harvard and Michigan Law panelists) are presented after each write-up, expressed as percentages. These ratings also School (JD). He currently resides in White Plains, NY with his wife Joan (Chairman of appear in a summary table near the end of the casebook for all thirty-three cases, for the National Appeals Committee) where he is an attorney. Ron is a college basketball fan handy reference. and enjoys classical music and tennis. He is proudest of winning both the Spingold and Blue Ribbon Pairs in 1981. Each year from 1990 to 1995 he made it to at least the round We wish to thank all of the hard-working people without whose efforts this casebook of eight in the Vanderbilt; he played in three finals (winning in Fort Worth, 1990) and one would not have been possible. The scribes and Committee chairs who labored in Miami to semi-final without playing once on a professional team. get the details of each case down on paper for us to publish (we’re pretty sure the cattle prod marks will heal, with minimal scarring); our esteemed panelists, who graciously Bobby Goldman, 57, was born in Philadelphia. He currently resides in Dallas with his undertook the arduous task of commenting on the thirty-three cases from Miami for wife Bettianne and his twelve year old son, Quinn. He is a Bridge Professional and nothing more than the “glory” of seeing their names in lights, and receiving our praise Financial Analyst. His hobbies include tennis, volleyball, basketball and softball. While (and occasional abuse) in these pages; Karen Lawrence (Hawkeye), whose long hours in Bobby was a member of the original ACES from 1968 to 1974, he was a pioneer in Miami helped immeasurably with the editing process, and whose proofreading skills have writing computer programs that generate bridge practice hands and evaluate bidding saved up from many an embarrassing gaff; and last, but by no means least, Linda probabilities. Bobby has won four World Championships and more than thirty National Weinstein, our irreplaceable (and irrepressible) executive editorial assistant (and gal Championships. Friday, as well as Monday, Tuesday, . .) who even gave up a golf game once to meet one of our deadlines (okay, so it was raining). Our sincere thanks to you all. Nick Krnjevic, 37, was born in Australia. He is single and currently resides in Montreal, where he is an insurance lawyer. Nick has recently become obsessed with golf, and can be Eric Kokish and Rich Colker, found on the links until well past dusk on many summer evenings. His proudest bridge October, 1996 accomplishments are his multiple appearances in the final stages of the Canadian National Teams Championship. Nick is our token Canadian panelist. iii iv Alan LeBendig, 48, was born in Cleveland.