Faithful Agent Trustee Duty Invoked Against Engineer B Disclosure
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/126#Faithful_Agent_Trustee_Duty_Invoked_Against_Engineer_B_Disclosure
Properties
Instance of
FaithfulAgentObligationWithinEthicalLimits
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#FaithfulAgentObligationWithinEthicalLimits
Applied to
Engineer B's decision to notify Engineer A of the review engagement against client instruction
Balancing with
Incumbent Engineer Knowledge Requirement in Peer Review
Professional Dignity
Concrete expression
Engineer B's duty as faithful agent and trustee to the client required Engineer B to follow the client's instruction not to disclose the review engagement to Engineer A, because the duty of loyalty and fair dealing obligated Engineer B to carry out the transaction in the manner most beneficial to the client and not in a way motivated by personal advantage
Confidence
0.91
Importance
high
Interpretation
In this context, the faithful agent duty is interpreted as a general duty of loyalty and fair dealing — not strict fiduciary confidentiality — that required Engineer B to respect the client's confidentiality instruction absent a higher-order professional obligation overriding it
Invoked by
Board of Ethical Review
Tension resolution
The Board found that on balance the faithful agent duty prevailed over the peer notification obligation in this specific context, because Engineer B was not acting from personal advantage and the benefits of disclosure did not outweigh the detriments to the client
Source Evidence
Source text
we are persuaded that Engineer B acted unethically in notifying Engineer A of Engineer B's relationship with the client. Engineer B had an obligation not to notify Engineer A once Engineer B was told by client not to tell Engineer A about Engineer B's relationship with the client.
Text references
Code Section II.4 places the obligation upon engineers to act in professional matters for clients as 'faithful agents or trustees.'
Engineer B had an obligation not to notify Engineer A once Engineer B was told by client not to tell Engineer A about Engineer B's relationship with the client.
we interpret the term 'trustee' to refer to the more general duty of loyalty and fair dealing
we surmise that Engineer B's disclosure of his relationship with client constitutes a neglect of the interests of his client
TTL
@prefix case126: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/126#> .
@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#> .
case126:Faithful_Agent_Trustee_Duty_Invoked_Against_Engineer_B_Disclosure a proeth:FaithfulAgentObligationWithinEthicalLimits,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Faithful Agent Trustee Duty Invoked Against Engineer B Disclosure" ;
proeth:appliedto "Engineer B's decision to notify Engineer A of the review engagement against client instruction" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Incumbent Engineer Knowledge Requirement in Peer Review",
"Professional Dignity" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "Engineer B's duty as faithful agent and trustee to the client required Engineer B to follow the client's instruction not to disclose the review engagement to Engineer A, because the duty of loyalty and fair dealing obligated Engineer B to carry out the transaction in the manner most beneficial to the client and not in a way motivated by personal advantage" ;
proeth:confidence "0.91" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "126" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-01T10:19:38.255455+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "126" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-01T10:19:38.255455+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "In this context, the faithful agent duty is interpreted as a general duty of loyalty and fair dealing — not strict fiduciary confidentiality — that required Engineer B to respect the client's confidentiality instruction absent a higher-order professional obligation overriding it" ;
proeth:invokedby "Board of Ethical Review" ;
proeth:principleclass "Faithful Agent Obligation Within Ethical Limits" ;
proeth:sourcetext "we are persuaded that Engineer B acted unethically in notifying Engineer A of Engineer B's relationship with the client. Engineer B had an obligation not to notify Engineer A once Engineer B was told by client not to tell Engineer A about Engineer B's relationship with the client." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "The Board found that on balance the faithful agent duty prevailed over the peer notification obligation in this specific context, because Engineer B was not acting from personal advantage and the benefits of disclosure did not outweigh the detriments to the client" ;
proeth:textreferences "Code Section II.4 places the obligation upon engineers to act in professional matters for clients as 'faithful agents or trustees.'",
"Engineer B had an obligation not to notify Engineer A once Engineer B was told by client not to tell Engineer A about Engineer B's relationship with the client.",
"we interpret the term 'trustee' to refer to the more general duty of loyalty and fair dealing",
"we surmise that Engineer B's disclosure of his relationship with client constitutes a neglect of the interests of his client" ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 126 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-01T10:31:55.149897"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 126 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
126
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-03-01T10:19:38.255455+00:00
First case
126
Generated
2026-03-01T10:19:38.255455+00:00
Attributed to
Case 126 Extraction
Generated
2026-03-01T10:31:55.149897
Generated by
ProEthica Case 126 Extraction