[dickiegera]

Dummy is running a long suit diamonds in a NT contract and a defender is found to have a card left at the conclusion of play.

Actually defender has 2 cards left while all others have only 1 card.
It is discovered that defender did not play on 1 of the diamonds. Defenders won 1 trick prior to the last 2.

Partner of defender with 2 cards won the 12th & 13th trick. Defender with 2 cards left won the 7th trick.


Directer ruled 1 trick penalty making 5NT including the 1 trick penalty.
Is this the correct ruling?

Thank you

[blackshoe]

Probably. Certainly the one trick penalty is correct. However, Law 64C might apply, which might result in an adjusted score better than 5NT making five, but we can't tell that without seeing all four hands and knowing how declarer played the hand.

[mycroft]

Law 67B1:

Quote

Defective Trick:
B After Both Sides Play to the Next Trick

After both sides have played to the following trick, when attention is drawn to a defective trick or when the Director determines that there had been a defective trick (from the fact that one player has too few or too many cards in his hand, and a correspondingly incorrect number of played cards), the Director establishes which trick was defective. To rectify the number of cards, the Director should proceed as follows.

1) When the offender has failed to play a card to the defective trick, the Director shall require him forthwith to expose a card face-up in front of him and then place it appropriately among his played cards (this card does not affect ownership of the trick); if
a) the offender has a card of the suit led to the defective trick, he must choose such a card to place among his played cards. He is deemed to have revoked on the defective trick and is subject to the loss of one trick transferred in accordance with Law 64A2.
b) the offender has no card of the suit led to the defective trick, he chooses any card to place among his played cards. He is deemed to have revoked on the defective trick and is subject to the loss of one trick transferred in accordance with Law 64A2.

So, seems right. One of the two last tricks (which are clearly post Defective Trick) won by the defence are transferred for the "deemed to be a revoke". They get to keep their other two, unless, as Ed says, equity means otherwise.