Absolute Loyalty Prohibition Invoked Against Perpetual Devotion Claim
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/179#Absolute_Loyalty_Prohibition_Invoked_Against_Perpetual_Devotion_Claim
Properties
Instance of
AbsoluteLoyaltyProhibitiontoFormerClients
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#AbsoluteLoyaltyProhibitiontoFormerClients
Applied to
Engineer A's acceptance of Attorney X's retention adverse to ABC Manufacturing
NSPE Code Section II.4 faithful agent and trustee obligation
Balancing with
Engineer Professional Autonomy and Independence Preservation Principle
Loyalty
Concrete expression
The Board held that Engineer A's prior service to ABC Manufacturing did not create a perpetual duty of absolute loyalty precluding her from serving as an expert adverse to ABC in an unrelated product liability matter
Confidence
0.97
Importance
high
Interpretation
The faithful agent and trustee obligation is bounded in scope and duration; it does not extend to perpetual prohibition on adverse engagements in unrelated matters
Invoked by
Board of Ethical Review
Tension resolution
Bounded loyalty prevails; absolute perpetual loyalty is rejected as impractical and autonomy-compromising
Source Evidence
Source text
Being a 'faithful agent and trustee' to a client does not obligate an engineer to a duty of absolute devotion in perpetuity (See Code Section II.4.).
Text references
Being a 'faithful agent and trustee' to a client does not obligate an engineer to a duty of absolute devotion in perpetuity (See Code Section II.4.).
Such an approach would be impractical and compromise the autonomy and professional independence of engineers.
engineers do not have a duty of absolute loyalty under which the engineer can never take a position adverse to the interests of a former client.
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#> .
case179:Absolute_Loyalty_Prohibition_Invoked_Against_Perpetual_Devotion_Claim a proeth:AbsoluteLoyaltyProhibitiontoFormerClients,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Absolute Loyalty Prohibition Invoked Against Perpetual Devotion Claim" ;
proeth:appliedto "Engineer A's acceptance of Attorney X's retention adverse to ABC Manufacturing",
"NSPE Code Section II.4 faithful agent and trustee obligation" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Engineer Professional Autonomy and Independence Preservation Principle",
"Loyalty" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "The Board held that Engineer A's prior service to ABC Manufacturing did not create a perpetual duty of absolute loyalty precluding her from serving as an expert adverse to ABC in an unrelated product liability matter" ;
proeth:confidence "0.97" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "179" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-03-01T06:59:47.888317+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "179" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-03-01T06:59:47.888317+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "The faithful agent and trustee obligation is bounded in scope and duration; it does not extend to perpetual prohibition on adverse engagements in unrelated matters" ;
proeth:invokedby "Board of Ethical Review" ;
proeth:principleclass "Absolute Loyalty Prohibition to Former Clients" ;
proeth:sourcetext "Being a 'faithful agent and trustee' to a client does not obligate an engineer to a duty of absolute devotion in perpetuity (See Code Section II.4.)." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "Bounded loyalty prevails; absolute perpetual loyalty is rejected as impractical and autonomy-compromising" ;
proeth:textreferences "Being a 'faithful agent and trustee' to a client does not obligate an engineer to a duty of absolute devotion in perpetuity (See Code Section II.4.).",
"Such an approach would be impractical and compromise the autonomy and professional independence of engineers.",
"engineers do not have a duty of absolute loyalty under which the engineer can never take a position adverse to the interests of a former client." ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 179 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-03-01T07:10:12.471412"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 179 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
179
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-03-01T06:59:47.888317+00:00
First case
179
Generated
2026-03-01T06:59:47.888317+00:00
Attributed to
Case 179 Extraction
Generated
2026-03-01T07:10:12.471412
Generated by
ProEthica Case 179 Extraction