LEWISTON – The state’s highest court has upheld much of a lower court ruling requiring the owner of the vacant Cowan Mill to pay substantial architectural fees owed to Platz Associates of Auburn.

Cowan Mill owner Martin Finley of Wales had appealed a Lewiston District Court ruling that he owed $150,000 in fees to Platz and that he was “unjustly enriched” by having possession of architectural drawings that he had not paid for.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled Tuesday that Finley does owe the fees but dismissed the claim that he was enriched because he never received the plans from developer Travis Soule, who had contracted for the drawings to be done.

According to the ruling, Soule’s Solo Properties hired Platz in 2004 to prepare materials, including conceptual architectural drawings, for development of 3 Mill St., the 19th-century mill building owned by Finley, which Soule was then negotiating to buy.

Soule had agreed to buy the building from Finley for $600,000, according to the ruling. That purchase agreement was repeatedly extended between 2004 and 2007, and “for reasons unknown, Soule failed to proceed to closing” after the final extension to March 17, 2007, according to the court.

During the time that Soule and Finley were negotiating the sale of the mill, Soule independently entered into an owner-architect agreement with Platz Associates for services to draft architectural drawings for the conversion of that mill into residential condominiums and retail space.

Platz Associates billed Soule $149,165 for services in 2006, and later placed a mechanics lien on the property after a period of nonpayment, according to court records. At that time, Finley still owned the building.

In August 2006, Platz Associates filed a lawsuit in Lewiston District Court against Finley and Soule, alleging failure to pay for services. According to court records, Finley repeatedly denied knowing about any agreement between Platz Associates and Soule and further denied that Soule had turned over the architectural drawings after the property sale negotiation collapsed, but the district court found for Platz on all counts. Finley appealed that ruling to the supreme court, but Soule did not.

According to the ruling, Finley disputes the amount Platz Associates claims it is due, and the amount of work the architectural firm claims was done at Soule’s request. Because Finley had not adequately responded to those claims when the original lawsuit was filed in District Court, and also because he didn’t have any firsthand knowledge of when the work was done and how much it cost, according to the ruling, the court ruled in favor of Platz on the fees owed.

The court ruled in Finley’s favor on the charge that he was unjustly enriched because Finley adequately demonstrated he had never taken possession of the documents that Platz delivered to Soule.

According to the court, “although the (mill sales) agreement contains a clause requiring Soule to turn over feasibility documents to Finley in the event that the sale did not go through, the fact that the agreement contained such a provision does not demonstrate that Soule complied with the provision,” and Platz failed to prove that Finley had been given the architectural plans.

After the sale to Soule fell through, Finley entered into an agreement with developer Bob Winston to rehabilitate the Cowan Mill into a mixed-use residential complex. Winston is expected to build a Marriott Courtyard alongside the Cowan property.

According to city records, the mill property is now co-owned by Martin Finley and Paul Finley of Sabattus.

Calls to attorneys Jeffrey White and Kelly Matzen, who represent Finley and Platz, respectively, were not returned.