Code Revision Prospective Application Adverse Participation Stricter Standard Engineer A Dam Failure
O · Obligation
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/170#Code_Revision_Prospective_Application_Adverse_Participation_Stricter_Standard_Engineer_A_Dam_Failure
Properties
Instance of
CodeRevisionProspectiveApplicationAdverseParticipationStricterStandardObligation
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#CodeRevisionProspectiveApplicationAdverseParticipationStricterStandardObligation
Case context
Engineer A's conduct occurred after the July 1981 revision of the NSPE Code adding Section III.4.b; Case 76-3 was decided under the 1976 Code which contained no equivalent provision; Engineer A could not rely on Case 76-3 as precedent permitting his acceptance of the contractor's retainer.
Compliance status
unmet
Confidence
0.87
Importance
medium
Obligated party
Engineer A
Obligation statement
Engineer A was obligated to apply the 1981 revised NSPE Code Section III.4.b — not the pre-1981 standard under which Case 76-3 was decided — to his decision whether to accept the contractor's retainer, recognizing that the 1981 revision established a stricter prohibition on adverse participation using specialized knowledge gained for a former client, and that the pre-revision precedent of Case 76-3 could not justify conduct clearly prohibited under the current code.
Temporal scope
At the time of accepting the contractor's retainer, after the July 1981 Code revision
Relationships
competesWith
Post-Engagement Termination Same-Matter Adverse Expert Witness Declination Engineer A Dam Failure
prevailsOver
Post-Engagement Termination Same-Matter Adverse Expert Witness Declination Engineer A Dam Failure
derivedFromPrinciple
Progressive Ethics Code Restriction Applied to 1981 Code Revision
Source Evidence
Source text
Case 76-3 was decided under the 1976 Code of Ethics which made no mention of an engineer's ethical obligation to refrain from representing an adverse interest in a proceeding.
Text references
Case 76-3 was decided under the 1976 Code of Ethics which made no mention of an engineer's ethical obligation to refrain from representing an adverse interest in a proceeding.
In July 1981, the Code of Ethics was revised.
Under the revised Code section it is clear that Engineer A's action was in violation of Section III.4.b.
TTL
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@prefix proeth-core: <http://proethica.org/ontology/core#> .
@prefix prov: <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
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case170:Code_Revision_Prospective_Application_Adverse_Participation_Stricter_Standard_Engineer_A_Dam_Failure a proeth:CodeRevisionProspectiveApplicationAdverseParticipationStricterStandardObligation,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Code Revision Prospective Application Adverse Participation Stricter Standard Engineer A Dam Failure" ;
proeth-core:competesWith case170:Post-Engagement_Termination_Same-Matter_Adverse_Expert_Witness_Declination_Engineer_A_Dam_Failure ;
proeth-core:prevailsOver case170:Post-Engagement_Termination_Same-Matter_Adverse_Expert_Witness_Declination_Engineer_A_Dam_Failure ;
proeth:casecontext "Engineer A's conduct occurred after the July 1981 revision of the NSPE Code adding Section III.4.b; Case 76-3 was decided under the 1976 Code which contained no equivalent provision; Engineer A could not rely on Case 76-3 as precedent permitting his acceptance of the contractor's retainer." ;
proeth:compliancestatus "unmet" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Obligation" ;
proeth:confidence "0.87" ;
proeth:derivedFromPrinciple case170:Progressive_Ethics_Code_Restriction_Applied_to_1981_Code_Revision ;
proeth:discoveredincase "170" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-01T21:08:58.404135+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "170" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-01T21:08:58.404135+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "medium" ;
proeth:obligatedparty "Engineer A" ;
proeth:obligationclass "Code Revision Prospective Application Adverse Participation Stricter Standard Obligation" ;
proeth:obligationstatement "Engineer A was obligated to apply the 1981 revised NSPE Code Section III.4.b — not the pre-1981 standard under which Case 76-3 was decided — to his decision whether to accept the contractor's retainer, recognizing that the 1981 revision established a stricter prohibition on adverse participation using specialized knowledge gained for a former client, and that the pre-revision precedent of Case 76-3 could not justify conduct clearly prohibited under the current code." ;
proeth:sourcetext "Case 76-3 was decided under the 1976 Code of Ethics which made no mention of an engineer's ethical obligation to refrain from representing an adverse interest in a proceeding." ;
proeth:temporalscope "At the time of accepting the contractor's retainer, after the July 1981 Code revision" ;
proeth:textreferences "Case 76-3 was decided under the 1976 Code of Ethics which made no mention of an engineer's ethical obligation to refrain from representing an adverse interest in a proceeding.",
"In July 1981, the Code of Ethics was revised.",
"Under the revised Code section it is clear that Engineer A's action was in violation of Section III.4.b." ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 170 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-01T21:17:58.666965"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 170 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
170
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-03-01T21:08:58.404135+00:00
First case
170
Generated
2026-03-01T21:08:58.404135+00:00
Attributed to
Case 170 Extraction
Generated
2026-03-01T21:17:58.666965
Generated by
ProEthica Case 170 Extraction