Roger W. Griffith, P.E.
Jefferson City, TN 37760
Office: 865-471-8142
Roger is a licensed mechanical engineer who provides engineering design, forensic analysis, and expert witness consulting in plumbing systems, fuel gas systems, HVAC systems, and fire protection. His specialty areas include hot water systems, hot water scalding, carbon monoxide poisoning related to the venting of gas appliances, and Legionnaires disease.
He has provided expert witness services, including deposition and trial testimony, since 2002.
Mr. Griffith is committed to providing investigative engineering, consulting, and expert witness services that are thorough, credible, and timely. As a licensed professional engineer, he can assist in the following areas:
Construction Claims: He can review documents, perform site inspections, research industry standards, prepare reports and exhibits, and provide presentations to assist clients in resolving construction disputes involving changes, delays, damages, and impacted labor efficiency related to building mechanical, plumbing, and sprinkler systems.
Design Errors and Omissions: Case review and analysis of HVAC, plumbing, piping, and sprinkler system design work to determine whether the engineering design meets the standard of care for the area and when the work was performed. This often requires document review, research, and design calculations.
Litigation Support and Expert Witness: Roger Griffith prepares exhibits and provides testimony based upon independent and impartial investigation, research, analysis, and testing. He also assists clients through the mediation and arbitration process.
Construction Defects: Roger Griffith investigates HVAC, plumbing, fire protection, and piping system failures. After careful research and analysis, Roger provides objective opinions regarding causation and damages.
Litigation Support Services
Roger Griffith, P.E. provides expert testimony and litigation support services for plaintiffs and defendants on plumbing, mechanical, and fire sprinkler system defects and failures.
As a mechanical engineer, his training and experience designing plumbing, HVAC and fire sprinkler systems enable him to offer professional opinions regarding the adequacy of system design, construction, maintenance and operation.
As a mechanical engineer, Mr. Griffith's training and experience designing plumbing, HVAC and fire sprinkler systems enable him to offer professional opinions regarding the adequacy of system design, construction, maintenance and operation. With his experience and training in failure analysis, he can also evaluate equipment failures to determine their root cause.
Roger serves on the American Society of Plumbing Engineers (ASPE) national design standards committee that provides industry guidelines for hot water temperature limits for plumbing systems to prevent scalding.
Areas of expertise include:
* Plumbing Systems and Equipment and associated failures, damages, and injury causation
* Plumbing Code Compliance
* Hot Water Systems
* Hot Water Scalding
* Gas Appliances
* Venting of Gas Appliances and Combustion Safety
* Fire Sprinkler Systems
* Construction Defects
* HVAC Systems Design
* HVAC Equipment - Failure Analysis
- Boilers
- Building Codes
- Construction
- Failure Analysis
- Fire Sprinkler Systems
- Forensic Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering
- Plumbing & HVAC
- Q: Please list your professional accreditations, degrees, licenses, and certificates granted:
- A: Bachelor of Science, Mechanical Engineering
Registered Professional Engineer in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ney York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas Utah, Virginia, West Virgina, and Wisconsin. - Q: Please list your affiliations or memberships in any professional and/or industry organizations:
- A: American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE)
American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
American Society of Plumbing Engineers (ASPE)
American Society of Sanitary Engineers (ASSE)
American Society of Testing & Materials (ASTM)
International Code Council (ICC)
National Academy of Forensic Engineers (NAFE), Board Certified
National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) - Q: Please list any teaching or speaking experience you have had, including subject matter:
- A: Course instructor for problem solving techniques and fault-tree analysis for a major electric utility.
- Q: Have any of your accreditations ever been investigated, suspended or removed? (if yes, explain)
- A: No
- Q: On how many occasions have you been retained as an expert?
- A: >125
- Q: For what area(s) of expertise have you been retained as an expert?
- A: Plumbing design, plumbing failures, plumbing installation, hot water scalding, water heater failures, pipe failures, gas furnace, HVAC design, HVAC failures, HVAC installation, hot water scalding, Legionnaires Disease, carbon monoxide poisoning, gas explosions.
- Q: In what percentage of your cases were you retained by the plaintiff?
- A: 60
- Q: In what percentage of your cases were you retained by the defendant?
- A: 40
- Q: On how many occasions have you had your deposition taken?
- A: 24
- Q: When was the last time you had your deposition taken?
- A: 12/2024
- Q: On how many occasions have you been qualified by a court to give expert testimony?
- A: 5
- Q: On how many occasions have you testified as an expert in court or before an arbitrator?
- A: 7
- Q: For how many years have you worked with the legal industry as an expert?
- A: 14
- Q: What services do you offer? (E.g.: consulting, testing, reports, site inspections etc.)
- A: Engineering design, consulting, forensic investigations, litigation support, and expert witness testimony
- Q: What is your hourly rate to consult with an attorney?
- A: $375/hour
- Q: What is your hourly rate to review documents?
- A: $375/hour
- Q: What is your hourly rate to provide deposition testimony?
- A: $375/hour
- Q: What is your hourly rate to provide testimony at trial?
- A: $375/hour
- Q: Please list any fees other than those stated above (E.g.: travel expenses, copy fees, etc.)
- A: Travel time is billed at standard hourly rate. Travel expenses are billed at cost.
Paul Whitt, Esq.
Lewis, King, Kreig & Waldrop, PC
One Centre Square, Fifth Floor
620 Market Square
P.O. Box 2425
Knoxville, TN 37901
865-546-4646
pwhitt@lewisking.com
Brad W. Craig, Esq.
Lewis Thomason
424 Church St., Suite 2500
P.O. Box198615
Nashville, TN 37219
T: 615-259-1366
bcraig@lewisthomason.com