Relevance and Pertinence Standard Invoked by Engineer A Waterfront Hearing
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/123#Relevance_and_Pertinence_Standard_Invoked_by_Engineer_A_Waterfront_Hearing
Properties
Instance of
RelevanceandPertinenceStandardforVoluntaryDisclosureatPublicHearings
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#RelevanceandPertinenceStandardforVoluntaryDisclosureatPublicHearings
Applied to
Public hearing presentation of waterfront development design before City X Planning Board
Balancing with
Completeness and Non-Selectivity in Professional Advisory Opinions
Honesty
Objective Completeness in Public Authority Reports
Concrete expression
Engineer A presenting the waterfront development design at the City X Planning Board hearing was not ethically required to volunteer information about increased traffic, air, and noise pollution when not specifically questioned, because in Engineer A's professional judgment those factors were not 'relevant and pertinent' — and other witnesses subsequently provided that information
Confidence
0.87
Importance
high
Interpretation
The relevance and pertinence standard calibrates voluntary disclosure obligations at public hearings to the engineer's professional judgment about what information bears on the specific presentation — not all known adverse information must be volunteered absent questioning, provided the engineer would answer truthfully if asked
Invoked by
Engineer A Waterfront Development Hearing Case
Tension resolution
The Board concluded that Engineer A's omission was not unethical because the public hearing process — with multiple witnesses — supplied the omitted information, and because Engineer A would have answered truthfully if questioned; the relevance standard does not authorize suppression of material safety findings
Source Evidence
Source text
The Board of Ethical Review concluded that Engineer A's ethical obligation does not require him to disclose such information if, in his professional judgment, it is not 'relevant and pertinent.'
Text references
Engineer A was aware of these factors, but was not specifically questioned on these factors and did not volunteer this fact
Had Engineer A been questioned by the City Planning Board, Engineer A would have provided testimony concerning these issues
The Board of Ethical Review concluded that Engineer A's ethical obligation does not require him to disclose such information if, in his professional judgment, it is not 'relevant and pertinent.'
TTL
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@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#> .
case123:Relevance_and_Pertinence_Standard_Invoked_by_Engineer_A_Waterfront_Hearing a proeth:RelevanceandPertinenceStandardforVoluntaryDisclosureatPublicHearings,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Relevance and Pertinence Standard Invoked by Engineer A Waterfront Hearing" ;
proeth:appliedto "Public hearing presentation of waterfront development design before City X Planning Board" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Completeness and Non-Selectivity in Professional Advisory Opinions",
"Honesty",
"Objective Completeness in Public Authority Reports" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "Engineer A presenting the waterfront development design at the City X Planning Board hearing was not ethically required to volunteer information about increased traffic, air, and noise pollution when not specifically questioned, because in Engineer A's professional judgment those factors were not 'relevant and pertinent' — and other witnesses subsequently provided that information" ;
proeth:confidence "0.87" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "123" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-02-28T00:04:09.972985+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "123" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-02-28T00:04:09.972985+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "The relevance and pertinence standard calibrates voluntary disclosure obligations at public hearings to the engineer's professional judgment about what information bears on the specific presentation — not all known adverse information must be volunteered absent questioning, provided the engineer would answer truthfully if asked" ;
proeth:invokedby "Engineer A Waterfront Development Hearing Case" ;
proeth:principleclass "Relevance and Pertinence Standard for Voluntary Disclosure at Public Hearings" ;
proeth:sourcetext "The Board of Ethical Review concluded that Engineer A's ethical obligation does not require him to disclose such information if, in his professional judgment, it is not 'relevant and pertinent.'" ;
proeth:tensionresolution "The Board concluded that Engineer A's omission was not unethical because the public hearing process — with multiple witnesses — supplied the omitted information, and because Engineer A would have answered truthfully if questioned; the relevance standard does not authorize suppression of material safety findings" ;
proeth:textreferences "Engineer A was aware of these factors, but was not specifically questioned on these factors and did not volunteer this fact",
"Had Engineer A been questioned by the City Planning Board, Engineer A would have provided testimony concerning these issues",
"The Board of Ethical Review concluded that Engineer A's ethical obligation does not require him to disclose such information if, in his professional judgment, it is not 'relevant and pertinent.'" ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 123 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-02-28T00:14:43.752491"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 123 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
123
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-02-28T00:04:09.972985+00:00
First case
123
Generated
2026-02-28T00:04:09.972985+00:00
Attributed to
Case 123 Extraction
Generated
2026-02-28T00:14:43.752491
Generated by
ProEthica Case 123 Extraction