Conflict of Interest Recusal Obligation Invoked Against Engineer A Town Engineer Role
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/105#Conflict_of_Interest_Recusal_Obligation_Invoked_Against_Engineer_A_Town_Engineer_Role
Properties
Instance of
ConflictofInterestRecusalObligation
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#ConflictofInterestRecusalObligation
Applied to
Engineer A's decision to offer his firm's services after Engineer B's termination
Smithtown local road project
Balancing with
Client Loyalty
Faithful Agent Obligation Within Ethical Limits
Concrete expression
Engineer A's prior advisory role in selecting Engineer B and his subsequent evaluative role in assessing Engineer B's performance created a conflict of interest that required recusal from any commercial engagement on the same project — Engineer A should have recused from offering his firm's services when the contract became available
Confidence
0.91
Importance
high
Interpretation
The recusal obligation applies because Engineer A's prior relationship with the project — as advisor on contractor selection and evaluator of contractor performance — is sufficiently substantial to compromise the objectivity and impartiality of any subsequent commercial engagement on the same project
Invoked by
Engineer A Part-Time Town Engineer and Private Consultant
Tension resolution
Recusal obligation overrides the faithful agent duty to serve the client's immediate needs, because the client's long-term interest in procurement integrity is better served by an independent contractor selection than by accepting the conflicted engineer's offer
Source Evidence
Source text
With Engineer A's advice and concurrence, Smithtown selects Engineer B to provide design services for a local road project.
Text references
Engineer A, in his role as town engineer, reviews Engineer B's preliminary work
Following the termination of Engineer B under the terms and conditions of his contract with the town, Engineer A offers, and Smithtown agrees, that Engineer A's firm should perform the design work for the local road project for Smithtown.
With Engineer A's advice and concurrence, Smithtown selects Engineer B to provide design services for a local road project.
TTL
@prefix case105: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/105#> .
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix proeth: <http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#> .
@prefix prov: <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
case105:Conflict_of_Interest_Recusal_Obligation_Invoked_Against_Engineer_A_Town_Engineer_Role a proeth:ConflictofInterestRecusalObligation,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Conflict of Interest Recusal Obligation Invoked Against Engineer A Town Engineer Role" ;
proeth:appliedto "Engineer A's decision to offer his firm's services after Engineer B's termination",
"Smithtown local road project" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Client Loyalty",
"Faithful Agent Obligation Within Ethical Limits" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "Engineer A's prior advisory role in selecting Engineer B and his subsequent evaluative role in assessing Engineer B's performance created a conflict of interest that required recusal from any commercial engagement on the same project — Engineer A should have recused from offering his firm's services when the contract became available" ;
proeth:confidence "0.91" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "105" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "facts" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-02-28T08:32:05.674158+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "105" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-02-28T08:32:05.674158+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "The recusal obligation applies because Engineer A's prior relationship with the project — as advisor on contractor selection and evaluator of contractor performance — is sufficiently substantial to compromise the objectivity and impartiality of any subsequent commercial engagement on the same project" ;
proeth:invokedby "Engineer A Part-Time Town Engineer and Private Consultant" ;
proeth:principleclass "Conflict of Interest Recusal Obligation" ;
proeth:sourcetext "With Engineer A's advice and concurrence, Smithtown selects Engineer B to provide design services for a local road project." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "Recusal obligation overrides the faithful agent duty to serve the client's immediate needs, because the client's long-term interest in procurement integrity is better served by an independent contractor selection than by accepting the conflicted engineer's offer" ;
proeth:textreferences "Engineer A, in his role as town engineer, reviews Engineer B's preliminary work",
"Following the termination of Engineer B under the terms and conditions of his contract with the town, Engineer A offers, and Smithtown agrees, that Engineer A's firm should perform the design work for the local road project for Smithtown.",
"With Engineer A's advice and concurrence, Smithtown selects Engineer B to provide design services for a local road project." ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 105 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-02-28T08:46:32.086959"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 105 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
105
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
facts
First discovered
2026-02-28T08:32:05.674158+00:00
First case
105
Generated
2026-02-28T08:32:05.674158+00:00
Attributed to
Case 105 Extraction
Generated
2026-02-28T08:46:32.086959
Generated by
ProEthica Case 105 Extraction