Confidentiality Non-Applicability Applied to Subdivision Defect Public Danger
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/78#Confidentiality_Non-Applicability_Applied_to_Subdivision_Defect_Public_Danger
Properties
Instance of
ConfidentialityNon-ApplicabilitytoPublicDangerDisclosure
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#ConfidentialityNon-ApplicabilitytoPublicDangerDisclosure
Applied to
Insurance company client confidentiality
Subdivision homeowners safety risk
Balancing with
Client Loyalty
Faithful Agent Obligation Within Ethical Limits
Concrete expression
Engineer A's confidentiality obligation to the insurance company client did not bar disclosure of the systemic structural defect to local building officials and the homeowners association, because the defect posed a material danger to the public safety of subdivision residents.
Confidence
0.89
Importance
high
Interpretation
Client confidentiality does not protect information about a systemic structural defect that poses a material risk to the safety of identifiable third parties who are not party to the client relationship.
Invoked by
Engineer A Current Case Subdivision Tract Defect Reporting Forensic Engineer
Tension resolution
Public danger disclosure obligation prevails over client confidentiality when the danger affects identifiable third parties.
Source Evidence
Source text
since this matter had the potential to affect several other homeowners in the subdivision, Engineer A should have explored additional steps, including contacting local building officials, as well as the local homeowners or community civic association, to advise them of his findings.
Text references
since this matter had the potential to affect several other homeowners in the subdivision, Engineer A should have explored additional steps, including contacting local building officials, as well as the local homeowners or community civic association, to advise them of his findings.
there are basic values and principles contained in the NSPE Code of Ethics that provide important guidance to professional engineers who are faced with such situations.
TTL
@prefix case78: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/78#> .
@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#> .
case78:Confidentiality_Non-Applicability_Applied_to_Subdivision_Defect_Public_Danger a proeth:ConfidentialityNon-ApplicabilitytoPublicDangerDisclosure,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Confidentiality Non-Applicability Applied to Subdivision Defect Public Danger" ;
proeth:appliedto "Insurance company client confidentiality",
"Subdivision homeowners safety risk" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Client Loyalty",
"Faithful Agent Obligation Within Ethical Limits" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "Engineer A's confidentiality obligation to the insurance company client did not bar disclosure of the systemic structural defect to local building officials and the homeowners association, because the defect posed a material danger to the public safety of subdivision residents." ;
proeth:confidence "0.89" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "78" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-02-27T05:08:04.869034+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "78" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-02-27T05:08:04.869034+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "Client confidentiality does not protect information about a systemic structural defect that poses a material risk to the safety of identifiable third parties who are not party to the client relationship." ;
proeth:invokedby "Engineer A Current Case Subdivision Tract Defect Reporting Forensic Engineer" ;
proeth:principleclass "Confidentiality Non-Applicability to Public Danger Disclosure" ;
proeth:sourcetext "since this matter had the potential to affect several other homeowners in the subdivision, Engineer A should have explored additional steps, including contacting local building officials, as well as the local homeowners or community civic association, to advise them of his findings." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "Public danger disclosure obligation prevails over client confidentiality when the danger affects identifiable third parties." ;
proeth:textreferences "since this matter had the potential to affect several other homeowners in the subdivision, Engineer A should have explored additional steps, including contacting local building officials, as well as the local homeowners or community civic association, to advise them of his findings.",
"there are basic values and principles contained in the NSPE Code of Ethics that provide important guidance to professional engineers who are faced with such situations." ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 78 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-02-27T05:38:29.584160"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 78 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
78
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-02-27T05:08:04.869034+00:00
First case
78
Generated
2026-02-27T05:08:04.869034+00:00
Attributed to
Case 78 Extraction
Generated
2026-02-27T05:38:29.584160
Generated by
ProEthica Case 78 Extraction