[blml] What constitutes a frivolous appeal?

[David Grabiner]

I agree with Sven that the outcome is not the determining factor; however, I do 
believe it is a necessary condition.  If the TD ruling is -200 to the 
appellants, and one member of the AC believes that the score should be -100 to 
the appellants, there should be no penalty for an appeal without merit, because 
the AC member who would rule -100 must have seen a merit in the claim.

The converse is not true.  If the entire AC believes that the ruling should 
be -200 (or worse), the appeal might or might not have merit; Nigel gave one 
type of example, and another situation might be that the committee, after 
complicated deliberation, determines that there was or was not an LA but that 
the players could not be expected to make that determination themselves.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sven Pran" <svenpran at online.no>
To: "blml" <blml at rtflb.org>
Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 7:24 AM
Subject: Re: [blml] What constitutes a frivolous appeal?


Frankly I resent the question on whether an appeal is frivolous to be
determined from the outcome of the appeal. That question must be answered
from a separate judgement on whether or not the appellant had sufficient
reasons to request a second consideration of the case.

Regards Sven

-----Original Message-----
From: blml-bounces at amsterdamned.org [mailto:blml-bounces at amsterdamned.org]
On Behalf Of Nigel
Sent: 30. april 2007 00:26
To: BLML
Subject: Re: [blml] What constitutes a frivolous appeal?

[nige1][G] The committee's ruling isn't unanimous.[H] The committee's ruling
differs from the director's. (Unless,perhaps, the committee's ruling is
substantially the same but harsher).
[David Grabiner]I would write G and H as, "no member of the committee
recommended a ruling which was potentially better for the appellants than
the director's ruling."  If the director rules average-minus, and the
committee unanimously rules that the score should be -100 for the
appellants, the appeal has merit even if -100 turns out to be worse than
average-minus.  (The appellants' case might be that a ruling of
average-minus is not allowed under the Laws, and they should get either +620
or -100.)Again, the "no member" ruling protects the players.  If one member
of a committee would have ruled in favor of a player, the player can hardly
be expected to determine that he had no case.Note that procedural penalties
imposed by the committee are independent of the merit of an appeal.  If the
committee imposes a penalty against the non-appealing side but lets the
director's ruling stand, the appeal could still be without merit, as the
committee is correcting an unrelated director's error.
[nige1]
It's encouraging to learn that there is a BLMLer who agrees with some of
what I write.

My quibble with David's rephrase is that sometimes the committee imposes a
penalty as harsh or harsher than the director although they disagree with
the director's reasons. In their ruling, the committee cite different rules
or use a different line of reasoning. In such a case, IMO the appeal should
be judged to have merit because the appellants seem to have successfully
found issue with the basis of the original ruling.


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