What happens if someone reneges on a loner hand in euchre?

Question

Yesterday, I was observing a game of Euchre when something interesting occurred and I wasn't sure what to make of it. I'll call the two teams A and B. Team A went alone, and around the 4th trick someone on Team B ended up reneging on accident. We noticed it after the final trick had been played, and none of us were really sure how to rule it. We ended up calling it a renege, even though Team A took all 5 tricks. But is that correct? Should Team A have gotten the 4 points since they took all 5? Or does a renege trump (no pun intended) that?

To be clear, if someone on Team B reneges during Team A's loner hand, and Team A took all 5 tricks. Would it result in two points, because of the renege, or four points because they took all the tricks?

Side note: We determined that even if Team B had not reneged that all 5 tricks would have been won anyways. Making this dilemma even more confusing.

Answer 1

I have always interpreted the renege penalty as being generally 2 points because that's the maximum the opponents could have gained from the hand. In a loner hand, the maximum the makers can get is 4 points, so I would penalize a renege on with 4 points. Some sources:

On the Ohio Euchre page the renege rule says:

RENEGE: - There are no exceptions to the ruling for a Renege: The hand is over, the offending team loses their bid and the non-offending team scores two points. In the case of a renege during a Loner attempt, the non-offending team scores 4 points.

On the wikipedia page for euchre, it says almost the same, though leaves open the possibility that other variants might not do this:

In some variants reneging when a player or his opponent is going alone may result in a penalty of four points in order to equalize the potential values of a hand. The four point penalty for reneging should apply equally for the maker of trump and the opposing team.

A third source, Euchre Links says the same, though only specifically about the team that is attempting the loner:

If the guilty team is defending against a lone-attempt during the infraction, 4 points are awarded to the team that was attempting the loner.

So, the sources seem to be in agreement that the maker would get 4 points when one defender reneges, and two of the three using language that indicates ANY renege in a loner hand (maker or defender) awards 4 points to the non-offending team.

Answer 2

A good clean game is fun, reneges doesn't happen, sitting on the fence does but playing against friends why would you. Having a partner, who knows you play euchre often by sitting on the fence, is great but to renege no thats not a good game and ruins it for all.