1N is 15-17. 2♠ is natural.
This is an appeals committee hand at a sectional. North/South are playing together for the very first time, and are intermediate/advanced level players. North thought that her 3♦ call was a transfer to hearts. After the hand was over, E-W thought that N took advantage of the non-alert of the 3♦ call to make the decision to bid 4 hearts, and called the director.
Despite the fact that N-S had not agreed to play 3♦ as a transfer, the director ruled that North used the unauthorized information from the non-alert of 3♦ to "wake up" to their agreements and bid 4 hearts as a result. The table director's ruling was to roll back the contract to 3N down 2, as he thought passing 3N to be a logical alternative on the auction.
N-S appealed the decision based on the bridge logic that it would be nonsense to leave partner in 3N with a spade void, and both E and W bidding spades vulnerable.
Your thoughts?
(p)-1N-(2♠)-3♦*,
3♠-3N-(p)-4♥,
All Pass