Switching Sides Prohibition Invoked Against Engineer A Dam Failure Forensic Investigation
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/170#Switching_Sides_Prohibition_Invoked_Against_Engineer_A_Dam_Failure_Forensic_Investigation
Properties
Instance of
SwitchingSidesProhibitioninAdversarialProceedings
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#SwitchingSidesProhibitioninAdversarialProceedings
Applied to
Contractor Adverse Claim Client
Engineer A Dam Failure Forensic Investigation Engineer
Balancing with
Contractor's interest in most knowledgeable expert
Engineer mobility and freedom to accept new engagements
Concrete expression
Engineer A, having been retained by the U.S. government to study the causes of a dam failure and thereby gaining access to the government's confidential information and firsthand factual knowledge, subsequently accepted retention by the contractor who filed a claim against the government — placing him on the opposing side of the same proceeding in which he had served the government
Confidence
0.95
Importance
high
Interpretation
The prohibition applies even after the initial engagement has been fully paid and apparently terminated, because the specialized firsthand knowledge acquired during government service cannot be credibly quarantined from subsequent adverse expert testimony
Invoked by
NSPE Board of Ethical Review
NSPE Code Section III.4.b
Tension resolution
The prohibition prevails because the specialized knowledge acquired for the government is inherently non-neutral and its adverse use cannot be consented to by the government absent explicit permission
Source Evidence
Source text
it would be unethical for an engineer who was retained by the U.S. government to be retained as an expert witness for a contractor who filed a claim against the U.S. government for additional compensation
Text references
There is a danger that Engineer A's opinions, based on his firsthand knowledge and his understanding of the facts of record, would touch upon privileged, specialized, and confidential knowledge gained while he was retained by the U.S. government
it would be unethical for an engineer who was retained by the U.S. government to be retained as an expert witness for a contractor who filed a claim against the U.S. government for additional compensation
TTL
@prefix case170: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/170#> .
@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#> .
case170:Switching_Sides_Prohibition_Invoked_Against_Engineer_A_Dam_Failure_Forensic_Investigation a proeth:SwitchingSidesProhibitioninAdversarialProceedings,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Switching Sides Prohibition Invoked Against Engineer A Dam Failure Forensic Investigation" ;
proeth:appliedto "Contractor Adverse Claim Client",
"Engineer A Dam Failure Forensic Investigation Engineer" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Contractor's interest in most knowledgeable expert",
"Engineer mobility and freedom to accept new engagements" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "Engineer A, having been retained by the U.S. government to study the causes of a dam failure and thereby gaining access to the government's confidential information and firsthand factual knowledge, subsequently accepted retention by the contractor who filed a claim against the government — placing him on the opposing side of the same proceeding in which he had served the government" ;
proeth:confidence "0.95" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "170" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-01T21:06:41.468366+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "170" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-01T21:06:41.468366+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "The prohibition applies even after the initial engagement has been fully paid and apparently terminated, because the specialized firsthand knowledge acquired during government service cannot be credibly quarantined from subsequent adverse expert testimony" ;
proeth:invokedby "NSPE Board of Ethical Review",
"NSPE Code Section III.4.b" ;
proeth:principleclass "Switching Sides Prohibition in Adversarial Proceedings" ;
proeth:sourcetext "it would be unethical for an engineer who was retained by the U.S. government to be retained as an expert witness for a contractor who filed a claim against the U.S. government for additional compensation" ;
proeth:tensionresolution "The prohibition prevails because the specialized knowledge acquired for the government is inherently non-neutral and its adverse use cannot be consented to by the government absent explicit permission" ;
proeth:textreferences "There is a danger that Engineer A's opinions, based on his firsthand knowledge and his understanding of the facts of record, would touch upon privileged, specialized, and confidential knowledge gained while he was retained by the U.S. government",
"it would be unethical for an engineer who was retained by the U.S. government to be retained as an expert witness for a contractor who filed a claim against the U.S. government for additional compensation" ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 170 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-01T21:17:58.664460"^^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
2026-03-01T21:06:41.468366+00:00
First case
170
Generated
2026-03-01T21:06:41.468366+00:00
Attributed to
Case 170 Extraction
Generated
2026-03-01T21:17:58.664460
Generated by
ProEthica Case 170 Extraction