Incidental Observation Disclosure Obligation Applied to Threatened Species
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/83#Incidental_Observation_Disclosure_Obligation_Applied_to_Threatened_Species
Properties
Instance of
IncidentalObservationDisclosureObligation
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#IncidentalObservationDisclosureObligation
Applied to
Threatened species identified during environmental assessment of property adjacent to wetlands
Balancing with
Client Loyalty
Scope-of-Work Limitation as Incomplete Ethical Defense
Concrete expression
Engineer A's biologist, while performing contracted environmental assessment services, identified a threatened species on the property — an observation incidental to but arising within the contracted scope — creating an obligation to disclose this finding not merely verbally to the client but formally in the written report submitted to the public authority
Confidence
0.89
Importance
high
Interpretation
When an engineer or their qualified staff identifies a material environmental finding incidentally during contracted work, the disclosure obligation extends to formal written report inclusion when the engineer has domain expertise and the finding is factually certain
Invoked by
Engineer A Environmental Firm Principal
Firm Biologist Threatened Species Reporter
Tension resolution
The incidental observation disclosure obligation, calibrated by domain expertise and factual certainty, requires formal written report inclusion rather than mere verbal notification to the client
Source Evidence
Source text
Engineer A, therefore, had an obligation to include it in the written report and advise the client of its inclusion.
Text references
Engineer A, therefore, had an obligation to include it in the written report and advise the client of its inclusion.
Further, unlike BER Case No. 97-13, there is nothing in the facts that the conclusions reached are based upon surmise or speculation.
Under the facts, as an environmental engineer with consultation by an apparently qualified biologist, it appears that Engineer A has technical competence concerning the matter in question.
TTL
@prefix case83: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/83#> .
@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#> .
case83:Incidental_Observation_Disclosure_Obligation_Applied_to_Threatened_Species a proeth:IncidentalObservationDisclosureObligation,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Incidental Observation Disclosure Obligation Applied to Threatened Species" ;
proeth:appliedto "Threatened species identified during environmental assessment of property adjacent to wetlands" ;
proeth:balancingwith "Client Loyalty",
"Scope-of-Work Limitation as Incomplete Ethical Defense" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteexpression "Engineer A's biologist, while performing contracted environmental assessment services, identified a threatened species on the property — an observation incidental to but arising within the contracted scope — creating an obligation to disclose this finding not merely verbally to the client but formally in the written report submitted to the public authority" ;
proeth:confidence "0.89" ;
proeth:discoveredincase "83" ;
proeth:discoveredinpass "2" ;
proeth:discoveredinsection "discussion" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredat "2026-02-27T19:04:02.625201+00:00" ;
proeth:firstdiscoveredincase "83" ;
proeth:generatedattime "2026-02-27T19:04:02.625201+00:00" ;
proeth:importance "high" ;
proeth:interpretation "When an engineer or their qualified staff identifies a material environmental finding incidentally during contracted work, the disclosure obligation extends to formal written report inclusion when the engineer has domain expertise and the finding is factually certain" ;
proeth:invokedby "Engineer A Environmental Firm Principal",
"Firm Biologist Threatened Species Reporter" ;
proeth:principleclass "Incidental Observation Disclosure Obligation" ;
proeth:sourcetext "Engineer A, therefore, had an obligation to include it in the written report and advise the client of its inclusion." ;
proeth:tensionresolution "The incidental observation disclosure obligation, calibrated by domain expertise and factual certainty, requires formal written report inclusion rather than mere verbal notification to the client" ;
proeth:textreferences "Engineer A, therefore, had an obligation to include it in the written report and advise the client of its inclusion.",
"Further, unlike BER Case No. 97-13, there is nothing in the facts that the conclusions reached are based upon surmise or speculation.",
"Under the facts, as an environmental engineer with consultation by an apparently qualified biologist, it appears that Engineer A has technical competence concerning the matter in question." ;
proeth:wasattributedto "Case 83 Extraction" ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-02-27T19:15:08.292418"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 83 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
83
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-02-27T19:04:02.625201+00:00
First case
83
Generated
2026-02-27T19:04:02.625201+00:00
Attributed to
Case 83 Extraction
Generated
2026-02-27T19:15:08.292418
Generated by
ProEthica Case 83 Extraction