Hall immediately filed for redress of her own, saying her results were made worse by "improper acts or omission" by both the jury members and by U.S. Sailing.
A second hearing with the same jury was held the next day, this one lasting 13 hours. Jurors were called as witnesses to discuss their roles and observations, and those same members eventually confirmed their initial ruling.
"As my lawyers have noted, people fighting unfair parking tickets receive more legal protection than I have as the winner on the water of the Olympic Trials," said Hall, 26.
In a statement yesterday, U.S. Sailing president Jim Capron defended the process and praised the jurors. "The jury took the challenge with all the skill, empathy and diligence that could ever be expected of any volunteer or the highest levels of sports," Capron said.
With the Olympics less than four months away, she doesn't have much time or many options left. She will try to convince the USOC review board that U.S. Sailing's rules fail to meet due process standards guaranteed by the Olympic committee and federal law. Separately, an arbitration hearing is scheduled for May 21-23 in San Francisco.
Cook, who was an international judge at the 2004 Games, characterized Hall's continued fight as a "scorched-earth approach."
"The sad thing is this aggressive litigation is detracting from time either of these athletes could be training for the Olympics," he said.
rick.maese@baltsun.com
