Engineer A Apartment Building Confidentiality Conflict
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/86#Engineer_A_Apartment_Building_Confidentiality_Conflict
Definition
In BER Case 89-7, Engineer A's contractual confidentiality obligation to the client was invoked as a basis for not reporting electrical and mechanical code violations to public authorities, but the Board held that the public safety obligation overrode the confidentiality duty.
Properties
Instance of
Applied to
Client Wetland Fill Violator
Balancing with
Public Welfare Paramountcy Principle
Concrete expression
In BER Case 89-7, Engineer A's contractual confidentiality obligation to the client was invoked as a basis for not reporting electrical and mechanical code violations to public authorities, but the Board held that the public safety obligation overrode the confidentiality duty.
Confidence
0.85
Interpretation
Confidentiality obligations to clients are genuine professional duties but are not absolute; they yield to public welfare obligations when the client's conduct poses a risk to persons who cannot protect themselves.
Tension resolution
The Board held in Case 89-7 that the public safety obligation overrode confidentiality, and the current case applies the same reasoning to environmental law violations.
Match Confidence
0.95
Match Reasoning
Individual typed as existing ontology class 'Confidentiality Principle'
Matched Ontology Label
Confidentiality Principle
Matches Existing
true
Synthesis Literal
appliedTo
balancingWith
concreteExpression
confidence
interpretation
principleClass
tensionResolution
textReferences
Relationships
invokedBy
Agent Engineer A
Source Evidence
Text references
Engineers, in the performance of their professional services, act as 'agents' or 'trustees' to their clients. They are privy to a great deal of information and background concerning the business affairs of their client.
The obligation of the engineer to be faithful to the client and not to disclose confidential information concerning the business affairs of a client without that client's consent, and the obligation of the engineer to hold paramount the public health and safety.
Source text
The obligation of the engineer to be faithful to the client and not to disclose confidential information concerning the business affairs of a client without that client's consent, and the obligation of the engineer to hold paramount the public health and safety.
TTL
@prefix case86: <http://proethica.org/ontology/case/86#> .
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix proeth: <http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#> .
@prefix proeth-core: <http://proethica.org/ontology/core#> .
@prefix proeth-prov: <http://proethica.org/provenance#> .
@prefix prov: <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix skos: <http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
case86:Engineer_A_Apartment_Building_Confidentiality_Conflict a proeth:ConfidentialityPrinciple,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Engineer A Apartment Building Confidentiality Conflict" ;
proeth-core:invokedBy case86:Agent_Engineer_A ;
proeth:appliedTo "Client Wetland Fill Violator" ;
proeth:balancingWith "Public Welfare Paramountcy Principle" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteExpression "In BER Case 89-7, Engineer A's contractual confidentiality obligation to the client was invoked as a basis for not reporting electrical and mechanical code violations to public authorities, but the Board held that the public safety obligation overrode the confidentiality duty." ;
proeth:confidence "0.85" ;
proeth:interpretation "Confidentiality obligations to clients are genuine professional duties but are not absolute; they yield to public welfare obligations when the client's conduct poses a risk to persons who cannot protect themselves." ;
proeth:invokedBy "Engineer A Wetland Delineation Engineer" ;
proeth:principleClass "Confidentiality Principle" ;
proeth:tensionResolution "The Board held in Case 89-7 that the public safety obligation overrode confidentiality, and the current case applies the same reasoning to environmental law violations." ;
proeth:textReferences "Engineers, in the performance of their professional services, act as 'agents' or 'trustees' to their clients. They are privy to a great deal of information and background concerning the business affairs of their client.",
"The obligation of the engineer to be faithful to the client and not to disclose confidential information concerning the business affairs of a client without that client's consent, and the obligation of the engineer to hold paramount the public health and safety." ;
proeth-prov:discoveredInCase 86 ;
proeth-prov:discoveredInPass 2 ;
proeth-prov:discoveredInSection "discussion" ;
proeth-prov:firstDiscoveredAt "2026-06-04T17:32:47.556599+00:00"^^xsd:dateTime ;
proeth-prov:firstDiscoveredInCase 86 ;
proeth-prov:matchConfidence 0.95 ;
proeth-prov:matchReasoning "Individual typed as existing ontology class 'Confidentiality Principle'" ;
proeth-prov:matchedOntologyClass proeth:ConfidentialityPrinciple ;
proeth-prov:matchedOntologyLabel "Confidentiality Principle" ;
proeth-prov:matchesExisting true ;
proeth-prov:sourceText "The obligation of the engineer to be faithful to the client and not to disclose confidential information concerning the business affairs of a client without that client's consent, and the obligation of the engineer to hold paramount the public health and safety." ;
proeth-prov:synthesisLiteral "appliedTo",
"balancingWith",
"concreteExpression",
"confidence",
"interpretation",
"principleClass",
"tensionResolution",
"textReferences" ;
rdfs:comment "In BER Case 89-7, Engineer A's contractual confidentiality obligation to the client was invoked as a basis for not reporting electrical and mechanical code violations to public authorities, but the Board held that the public safety obligation overrode the confidentiality duty." ;
skos:definition "In BER Case 89-7, Engineer A's contractual confidentiality obligation to the client was invoked as a basis for not reporting electrical and mechanical code violations to public authorities, but the Board held that the public safety obligation overrode the confidentiality duty." ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-06-04T17:32:47.556599+00:00"^^xsd:dateTime ;
prov:wasAttributedTo "Case 86 Extraction",
"claude-sonnet-4-6" ;
prov:wasGeneratedBy "ProEthica Case 86 Extraction" .
Metadata
Extraction details
Discovered in case
86
Discovered in pass
2
Discovered in section
discussion
First discovered
2026-06-04T17:32:47.556599+00:00
First case
86
Generated
2026-06-04T17:32:47.556599+00:00
Attributed to
['Case 86 Extraction', 'claude-sonnet-4-6']
Generated by
ProEthica Case 86 Extraction