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Martin v. Sizemore8/22/2001
h later, Mr. Martin stepped up his attack on the fairness of the proceedings by moving to disqualify the Department's lawyers from prosecuting the State's case against him. In January 1994, an administrative law judge, assigned to preside over the hearing by the Secretary of State, denied Mr. Martin's motion to disqualify the Department's lawyers because they were not assisting or advising the Board with regard to the case against Mr. Martin.
Mr. Martin was not deterred by the administrative law judge's denial of his motion to disqualify the Department's lawyers. On the eve of the administrative hearing, he filed a motion to disqualify all nine members of the Board for bias, prejudice, and interest in the outcome of the proceedings. The basis for this motion was that the board members had an attorney-client relationship with the Department's lawyer who would be prosecuting the case against him. After the administrative hearings commenced on February 17, 1994, one of Mr. Martin's attorneys was permitted to argue to the Board that their relationship with the Department's lawyer prosecuting the case required them to disqualify themselves. Thereafter, each board member present declined to recuse himself or herself from the proceeding.
Following five days of hearings, the Board entered a final order on November 18, 1994. The Board found: (1) that Mr. Martin was "not competent to have prepared or supervised the preparation of the structural, mechanical, plumbing, or electrical engineering drawings" for the motel project in Pigeon Forge that collapsed, (2) that Mr. Martin was "not competent to have prepared or supervised the preparation of the preliminary structural or electrical design drawings" for the seven-story motel in Gatlinburg, (3) that Mr. Martin did not act properly when he failed to withdraw from the converted grocery store project in Knoxville when the owner constructed and occupied the improvements contrary to a stop-work order issued by the Knox County Fire Prevention Bureau, and (4) that Mr. Martin had failed to communicate adequately with the State Fire Marshal in connection with the completion and approval of the plans for the Townsend motel project and had practiced outside the area of his competence by preparing the project's electrical design drawings. Accordingly, the Board determined that Mr. Martin had violated the rules of professional conduct, that his license should be suspended for three years, and that he should be placed on probation for one year following the suspension. The Board later denied Mr. Martin's request for a stay of its order.
In January 1995, Mr. Martin filed a petition for judicial review in the Chancery Court for Davidson County, naming as defendants the Commissioner of Commerce and Insurance, the Board, and the individual members of the Board. His attack on the Board's decision was twofold. First, he argued that the Board's proceedings violated U.S. Const. amend. XIV, Tenn. Const. art. I, § 8, and Tenn. Code Ann. § 4-5-303 (1998) because of the relationship between the board members and the Department's lawyer who prosecuted the State's case. Second, he asserted that the Board's conclusion that he had violated the rules of processional conduct with regard to the four projects was not supported by substantial and material evidence. The trial court rejected Mr. Martin's contention that the relationship between the Board and the Department's lawyer who prosecuted Mr. Martin caused the administrative proceedings to be fundamentally unfair. However, the trial court also determined that the Board's conclusion that Mr. Martin's conduct on the four cited projects violated the applicable standard of care was not supported by substantial and material evide
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