Stark v. Christie (State Report Title: Stark v. State Bd. of Registration)

• Decision Date: 29 April 1941
• Docket Number: 21.
• Citation: 19 A.2d 716,179 Md. 276
• Parties: STARK v. CHRISTIE et al. [*]
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

19 A.2d 716

179 Md. 276

STARK v. CHRISTIE et al. ^[*]

No. 21.

Court of Appeals of Maryland

April 29, 1941

Rehearing Denied June 10, 1941.

Appeal from Court of Common Pleas of Baltimore City; J. Abner Sayler, Judge.

Mandamus proceeding by Guy F. Stark to compel A. Graham Christie and others, constituting the State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors, to issue to petitioner a certificate of registration as a professional engineer. From an order sustaining a demurrer to the petition, petitioner appeals.

Affirmed.

George M. Brady, of Baltimore (John Marshall Jones, Jr., and Thomas H. Hedrick, both of Baltimore, on the brief), for appellant.

Robert E. Clapp, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen. (William C Walsh, Atty. Gen., on the brief), for appellees.

Argued before SLOAN, JOHNSON, DELAPLAINE, and COLLINS, JJ.

SLOAN, Judge.

This appeal is from an order sustaining a demurrer to a petition of the appellant, Guy F. Stark, for a writ of mandamus to compel the defendants to issue to the petitioner a certificate of registration as a professional engineer under and in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 752 of the Acts of 1939 and particularly under section 16 thereof.

The petition recites that Guy F. Stark, a citizen of Maryland and a resident of Baltimore County for more than a year prior to June 1, 1939, the day the Act of 1939, ch. 752, became effective, had been engaged as a professional engineer.

'In the course of his occupation as a professional engineer, he has applied engineering principles and data in design and lay out of electrical distribution systems pertaining to industrial plants, works and projects; he has designed and laid out electrical generating plants and mechanical installations thereof; he has designed and laid out mechanical structures for the support of pipes, conductors and conduits as required in these projects; he has planned and designed tests to determine electrical strength of insulators, lighting arresters, transformers and circuit breaker bushings; he has planned and designed control circuits as required in the installation of electric motors and generators in industrial works, processes and projects; he has recommended correct types of electric motors, generators and transformers for both private enterprises and public utilities; he has been called upon to recommend and did recommend correct types of electric motors and transformers for use in this Nation and in the Dominion of Canada; he has laid our control systems for use on electrically driven pumping machines and he has recommended special types of explosion proof control for use in oil fields. He has laid out electric furnace setup with transformers and regulators for use in the technical institute of Sao Paulo, Brazil. In 1937 he earned and received from the Johns Hopkins University the degree of Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering and thereafter was employed as a professional engineer in Pittsburgh and New York by the Westinghouse Electric International Company. While maintaining his home in Baltimore County he was required by the Westinghouse Electric International Company to spend in 1938 most of his working hours in the City of New York. As he preferred to be in Maryland and to be employed by the Stark Electric Company, an enterprise owned and controlled by Frank Stark, your petitioner's Father, he terminated in January, 1939, his employment by the Westinghouse Electric International Company, and ever since said time he has been professionally engaged in Maryland.'

That by the Act of 1939, ch. 752, it was provided that the Governor appoint a State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors to be composed of five professional engineers. The board so to be appointed consisted of five members from nominees recommended from the Maryland chapter or section of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Institute of Electrical and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, with the qualifications prescribed by section 4 of the Act, and there should be at least one member from each of the four named groups. In accordance with the Act, the Governor appointed A. Graham Christie, Sheppard T Powell, Frederick O. Schnure, Vinton D. Cockey, and John R Baker, the defendants, appellees.

In November, 1939, the petitioner filed his application with the Board for registration as a professional engineer, wherein it appears that he was then 25 years, 8 months of age, ad took a 4-year course in electrical engineering at Johns Hopkins University, graduating in 1937. The application requires that the applicant 'State in order (a) title of position held, (b) name, location and character of business of employer, (c) kind of work done by applicant and degree of personal responsibility therefor.' The applicant gave the names of two employers, his father's concern in Baltimore from June, 1931, when he was 17 years old, to October, 1933, when he went to Hopkins University, and again since February, 1939, and with the Westinghouse Company from July, 1937, to January, 1938, and again from February, 1938, to January, 1939. There was no information as to the 'kind of work done' or the 'degree of personal responsibility therefor.' The application was endorsed by three professors of engineering at Hopkins University, the president of the Chesapeake Steamship Company, and an engineer of the U.S. Coast Guard.

The answer of the Board to the application is as follows:

'February 2, 1940

'Address reply to:

'1616 Lexington Building

'Baltimore, Md.

'Mr. Guy F. Stark

'7518 Bel Air Road

'Baltimore County, Md.

'Dear Mr. Stark:

'The Board has had under consideration your application for registration under Paragraph 16 of the law governing registration, a copy of which was sent you with the application blank, and has concluded that at this time your qualifications do not meet the requirements for registration as a Professional Engineer.

'The Board is required by this law to register only those who strictly conform with the requirements of the law. The Board is guided in its interpretation of the law by opinions rendered it by the Attorney General of Maryland, and is also aided by practice of Boards in other states which are administering similar laws.

'Paragraph 16 offers to Professional Engineers during the first year of the law the opportunity to acquire registration without examination and at a reduced fee. It does this only to persons who are definitely qualified as Professional Engineers; it does not make this offer to anyone who may apply for registration.

'Paragraph 2 gives the definition of Professional Engineer as one 'who is qualified by reason of his knowledge * * * acquired by professional education and practical experience * * *'

'Paragraph 12 indicates the minimum amounts of education and experience that are considered necessary under the law to qualify one as a Professional Engineer. Your application does not contain evidence that you meet at this time the minimum requirements under any category of Paragraph 12, and consequently it becomes obligatory to deny your application.

'Action of the Board on your present application does not, in any way, prevent you applying for registration at any future time under the provisions of the registration law.

'Very truly yours,

'(s) J. R. Baker,

'Secretary.'

On March 6, 1940, the petitioner wrote the Board, more in detail than in the original application. In answer to that, the Board wrote Mr. George M. Brady, attorney for the petitioner, on April 9, 1940, as follows:

'April 9, 1940.

'Address Reply to:

'1616 Lexington Building

'Baltimore, Maryland

'Mr. George M. Brady

'1403 Fidelity Building

'Baltimore, Maryland

'Dear Mr. Brady:

'I am glad to advise Mr. Guy Stark through you that the Board has decided to consider anew Mr. Stark's application for registration as a Professional Engineer.

For this purpose it requests that he supply the type of evidence which is necessary to afford assurance that he has performed work of a satisfactory character. By this is meant evidence that his experience has inculcated a knowledge of mathematics, the physical sciences and the principles of engineering to a degree sufficient to render him competent to engage on his own responsibility in professional work.

'In other instances where the Board has requested concrete evidence, the applicant has been free to select his own method of presenting evidence as the Board has no intention of circumscribing applicants in that respect. The method most convenient and convincing to the Board has been to submit written descriptions of particular jobs making references to supporting design computations and resulting drawings, specifications, photographs, etc.

'Together with the applicant's presentation of evidence of experience, the Board requires that the names of unconnected references be submitted who can verify the professional aspects of the applicants work. It is not sufficient for a reference to state merely that the applicant handled a job in a satisfactory manner; what is necessary is the confirmation of responsible use of engineering principles for the solution of the problems of a professional nature.

'In this connection, your attention is directed to the desirability of keeping in mind the distinction between creative professional work on the one hand and artisanship, contracting, and sales work as discussed in my letter of March 28 to Mr. Charles Stark.

'Trusting that the above clearly indicates the kind of evidence desired and a practical method for presenting it, I am,

'Yours very truly,

'(s) J. R. Baker,

'Secretary.'

This letter is the last thing that appears in the record showing any...