Conn. Agencies Regs. § 12-574-B42 - Fines, suspensions, expulsions and appeals

(a) Suspension pending payment of fine. All persons who shall have been fined under these rules shall be suspended until said fine shall have been paid in full, or other arrangements have been made with the commission.

(b) Notice of penalty. Written or printed notice of all fines and other penalties imposed by the judges or starter shall be delivered to the person penalized, notice shall be posted immediately at the office of the association, and notice shall be forwarded immediately to the commission and the United States trotting association by the presiding judge or clerk of the course.

(c) Disposition of fine. All fines which are collected shall be reported and paid to the state of Connecticut by the close of the next banking day.

(d) Suspension for less than ten days, completing engagement. Where the penalty is for a driving violation and does not exceed in time a period of ten racing days, the driver may complete the engagement of all horses declared in before the penalty becomes effective. Such driver may drive in stakes, futurities, early closing, and feature races, during a suspension of ten days or less, but the suspension will be extended one day for each date he drives in such a race. All suspensions shall apply to racing days.

(e) Meaning of suspension or revocation. Whenever the penalty of suspension or revocation is imposed, it shall mean unconditional exclusion and disqualification from time of receipt of written notice from any participation, either directly or indirectly, in the privileges and uses of the course and grounds of an association during the progress of a race meeting unless otherwise specifically limited when such penalty is imposed. A suspension, revocation or denial of a license or expulsion of either a husband or wife may apply in each instance to both the husband and wife. The penalty becomes effective when notice is given unless otherwise specified.

(f) Competition by horse owned or controlled by a person under penalty. No horse shall have the right to compete while owned or controlled wholly or in part by a suspended, expelled, disqualified or excluded person. An entry made by or for a person or of a horse suspended, expelled or disqualified, shall be held liable for the entrance fee thus contracted without the right to compete unless the penalty is removed. No suspended, disqualified or excluded person shall drive, nor shall a suspended or disqualified horse perform in a race.

(g) Association permitting suspended person or disqualified horse to compete. No association shall permit a suspended, disqualified or excluded person to drive in a race, or a suspended, or disqualified horse to start in a race or a performance against time.

(h) Fraudulent transfer of horse. The fraudulent transfer of a horse by any person or persons under suspension in order to circumvent said suspension, shall constitute a violation.

(i) Notice of exclusion. Whenever a person is excluded from a track by an association, the commission shall be notified. The commission, in turn, shall notify all other associations in the state and shall notify the United States trotting association.

(j) Employment or retention of excluded person. No expelled, suspended, disqualified or excluded person shall act as an officer of an association. An association shall not, after receiving notice of such penalty, employ or retain in its employ an expelled, suspended, disqualified or excluded person at or on the track during the progress of a race meeting.

(k) Stay of enforcement. In certain circumstances, described below, the commission may grant a stay to any person licensed by it, pending appeal, who is affected by any decision of, or penalty, imposed by an official or officials at a race meeting.

(1) The appeal will be filed on form called a "notice of appeal and request for a stay" provided by the commission or upon presentation of a similar request in writing. The stay, if granted, will be at such a time or for such a duration designated by the commission. The commission may require the posting of security, which may be withheld in whole or in part if the appeal was frivolous or without foundation.

(2) The appeal must be filed within ten (10) days after the decision or penalty from which the appeal is taken. It shall be filed at the office of the presiding judge. The presiding judge shall present a copy of the "notice of appeal and request for a stay" to the commission on the day received. The commission shall convene a committee of three (3) commissioners to act on the request for a stay as soon as practical after receipt of the request. In no event shall the commission act later than seven (7) days from the receipt of the stay.

(3) The reasons stated in the appeal must be specific.

(l) Penalties by other jurisdictions.

(1) All penalties imposed by the United States trotting association or the racing commissions of the various states shall be recognized and enforced by the commission.

(2) When the commission receives notice of a penalty imposed by another racing commission or by the United States trotting association and an appeal has been taken from the imposition of such penalty and a stay has been granted, no recognition or enforcement shall be effective until a final decision has been rendered.

(m) Dishonored checks. Any person who pays an entry, a fine or other claim to the commission or any entry, claim or fine to an association or racing official by a draft, check, order or other paper which upon presentation is pretested, payment refused or otherwise dishonored, may by order of the commission, be subject to a fine not exceeding the amount of said draft, check or order, and the winnings of the horse or horses declared illegal and said persons and horses suspended until the dishonored amount and fine are paid and the illegal winnings returned.

(n) Appeal to commission from rulings of officials.

(1) All decisions and rulings of the judges or other race officials of any race may be appealed to the commission within ten (10) days after notice of such decision or ruling. The appeal may be taken upon any question in the conduct of a race, interpretation of the rules, decisions relative to the outcome of a race, application of penalties or other action affecting owners, drivers or horses, but it must be based on a specific charge which, if true, would warrant modification or reversal of the decision.

(2) In order to take an appeal under rule (n) of this section, a driver must first make complaint, claim or objection as required in rule (b) of section 12-574-B40 of these rules.

(3) All appeals shall be in writing and sworn to before a notary public or the commission.

(o) Modification of penalty. The commission may vacate, modify or increase any penalty imposed by the judges. In the event an appellant fails to appear at the hearing on his appeal without good cause, he may be penalized.

Notes

Conn. Agencies Regs. § 12-574-B42