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Martin v. Sizemore8/22/2001
received these plans on June 8, 1989, along with a request that they be reviewed on a fast-track basis. Kenneth Robichaux, a plans inspector, completed his review of the plans on June 30, 1989, and mailed a plan corrections list containing fifty-four comments to Mr. Martin. Mr. Martin's receipt of Mr. Robichaux's comments was substantially delayed because the owner's lawyer had given Mr. Robichaux an incorrect address for Mr. Martin. By the time Mr. Martin received Mr. Robichaux's comments, the motel was completed and open for business.
Once Mr. Martin received Mr. Robichaux's comments, he made corrections and additions to the plans and returned them to Mr. Robichaux. Mr. Robichaux received the second set of plans on October 2, 1989 and, on November 4, 1989, mailed a second plan corrections list containing seventeen comments to Mr. Martin. Mr. Martin returned a third set of plans to Mr. Robichaux in February 1991. Mr. Robichaux responded to these plans in March 1991, and Mr. Robichaux and Mr. Martin met to discuss the project on July 15, 1991. Five days later, Mr. Robichaux received additional submittals from Mr. Martin.
The owner eventually replaced Mr. Martin with another architect. In March 1992, Mr. Robichaux received another set of revised plans for the motel. In April 1992, Mr. Robichaux informed both Mr. Martin and his replacement that the revised plans were still not satisfactory. Finally, on January 13, 1993, Mr. Robichaux and other employees of the State Fire Marshal inspected the motel which, by that time, had been open and operating for over three years. The plans for the project remained unapproved at the time of the Board's hearing in this case.
With regard to this project, the State alleged that Mr. Martin was not competent to prepare the electrical drawings and that he had failed to communicate adequately with the State Fire Marshal and the Board to obtain timely approval of the plans. The State called Mr. Robichaux and William Wamsley, the Director of Codes Enforcement with the State Fire Marshal's Office. Mr. Robichaux has an electrical engineering degree but is not licensed as either an architect or an engineer in Tennessee, and he specifically disclaimed any expertise in the field of architecture. He had been working for the State Fire Marshal for approximately one month when he received Mr. Martin's initial plans for this project. In addition to recounting the history of the State Fire Marshal's review of this project, Mr. Robichaux testified that Mr. Martin has not been "responsive" and that he "would expect more out of a design professional than this."
Mr. Wamsley likewise is not trained or licensed as an architect or an engineer. However, he had received training in safety engineering through the National Fire Academy, the National Fire Protection Association, and the Southern Building Code Congress, and he had worked as a private fire protection consultant for a number of years. At the time he testified, he had been employed for twelve years by the State Fire Marshal to review plans. Mr. Wamsley testified that incomplete plans was the most common problem encountered by his office and that "multiple reviews" are often required to resolve these problems. He also testified that he was aware of other instances when plans had been submitted to the local building authority rather than the State Fire Marshal. He stated that it was "sometimes difficult" for architects to know to which governmental agency they should submit plans for review and, therefore, that the State Fire Marshal looks to the local building authorities to inform architects when plans must be submitted to the State Fire Marshal.
In response to the State's proof, Mr. Mart
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