DP3

DecisionPoint
http://proethica.org/ontology/cases#DecisionPoint

DP3

Does the post-submission, pre-settlement timing of Engineer A's discovery of the data inaccuracy create a qualitatively distinct and more demanding corrective obligation than pre-submission discovery would have imposed, and does the source of the data inaccuracy — whether arising from methodological deficiency or external circumstances — affect the character of Engineer A's ethical obligations?

Whether the post-submission timing of Engineer A's discovery — after report submission but before settlement conclusion — creates a qualitatively distinct and heightened corrective obligation relative to pre-submission discovery, and whether Engineer A's original investigative methodology constitutes a separate and independently cognizable ethical issue

Treat the post-submission discovery as imposing an immediate and affirmative external disclosure obligation to Attorney X — qualitatively more demanding than a pre-submission correction duty — and simultaneously document the source of the data inaccuracy to determine whether the original investigative methodology was itself deficient and whether that deficiency requires separate disclosure

Treat the post-submission discovery as imposing the same corrective obligation that would have applied pre-submission — revise the analysis and provide the corrected report to Attorney X without separately characterizing the disclosure as more urgent or more demanding than a standard report revision, on the grounds that the truthfulness obligation is binary and does not vary in intensity based on the procedural posture of the litigation

Disclose the corrected findings to Attorney X while expressly limiting the disclosure to the post-discovery correction obligation, deferring any examination of whether the original investigative methodology was deficient until after the settlement context is resolved, on the grounds that introducing a methodological critique of Engineer A's own prior work simultaneously with the corrective disclosure would compound the disruption to the legal process and exceed the scope of the immediate ethical obligation

Engineer A Dock Foundation Design Engineer