Board 59   Dealer: S   Vul: None	Roger Bates       KT54 AT J73 AKJT
Brad Moss 98 K9742 K842 Q6		Fred Gitelman       QJ72 QJ863  ---- 9432
	Eddie Wold A63 5 AQT965 875

N (Bates) S (Wold) conducted the following auction with E/W silent:
 
S         N
1       1
2       3NT*
4**    6
 
* 2 minute huddle and no alert to E.
 
** 45 seconds to 1.5 minute huddle after which he alerted W that 3NT showed 5Ss and an option to play 3NT even if S had 3Ss and then bid 4S.
 
After 6D was made E/W called the TD contending that the out of tempo bids conveyed unauthorized information (UI) which assisted N/S to bid the slam rather than playing 3NT.
 
Bates told the TD and the Appeals Committee (AC) that his huddle was his trying to remember their agreements about his rebid and  related that 2S was forcing, but that he wasn't sure that Wold would remember, and that 2NT was forcing, but he didn't remember that it was forcing, and  they used to play 3NT as showing 5Ss giving partner the option of playing 3NT even if he had 3Ss, but that he thought that Wold had asked to drop that agreement even though it was still in their notes.
 
Wold told the TD (he was not present at the hearing) that his out of tempo action was trying to remeber their methods and finally concluded that 3NT showed 5Ss and an option to play 3NT even with 3Ss and he then bid 4S. He did not recall the discussion about dropping that agreement.
 
The TD allowed the table result of N/S+920 to stand and E/W appealed.
 
The AC  believed that N's 2 minute huddle in what would be expected to be a routine auction may have awakened Wold that Bates may have uncertainty about 3NT. The AC concluded that had 3NT been bid in tempo, that it was reasonably likely that Wold would have passed  3NTand the result would have been down one and therefore changed the score to E/W +50.
 
Jeffrey Polisner, Chairman
John Sutherlin, Member
Henry Bethe, Member