The case involves an arbitration appeal filed by S. with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against a decision made by the Judicial Committee of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) on 14 July 1997. S. submitted a statement of appeal on 5 August 1997. Following this, the CAS Court Office sent a letter on 28 August 1997, instructing S. to appoint an arbitrator and file an appeal brief within ten days. S. failed to respond to this request. A subsequent reminder was sent on 2 October 1997, giving S. a final five-day deadline to comply, but again, no response was received.
According to Article R51 of the Code of Sports-related Arbitration, the appellant must file an appeal brief within ten days after the appeal deadline, including facts, legal arguments, and supporting evidence. Failure to do so results in the appeal being considered withdrawn. The CAS noted that S. had received the Code and was aware of the procedural rules, and the Court Office had explicitly reminded S. of the requirements under Article R51.
Given S.'s non-compliance with the procedural deadlines and the stipulations of Article R51, the Secretary General of the CAS issued an order on 3 November 1997, declaring that the appeal was deemed withdrawn and removed from the CAS roll. The order also stated that no additional costs were imposed, except for the Court Office fee of CHF 500, which was retained by the CAS as per Article R65.2 of the Code. The case was thus concluded without further action due to the appellant's failure to adhere to the procedural requirements.