Engineer A Client Confidentiality Limits
P · Principle
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/86#Engineer_A_Client_Confidentiality_Limits
Definition
Engineer A holds information about the client's wetland site from the prior engagement, but the question is whether confidentiality obligations extend to shielding the client from accountability for independently observed illegal conduct that was not disclosed to the engineer in confidence.
Properties
Instance of
Applied to
Client Wetland Fill Violator
Balancing with
Environmental Law Compliance Principle
Public Welfare Paramountcy Principle
Concrete expression
Engineer A holds information about the client's wetland site from the prior engagement, but the question is whether confidentiality obligations extend to shielding the client from accountability for independently observed illegal conduct that was not disclosed to the engineer in confidence.
Confidence
0.83
Interpretation
Confidentiality protects information disclosed by a client in the course of a professional engagement. It does not protect a client from the consequences of illegal conduct that the engineer observes independently in a public or semi-public setting after the engagement has concluded. The fill was not a confidential communication but an observable physical act.
Tension resolution
Confidentiality does not bar disclosure of independently observed statutory violations, particularly when those violations are substantial and ongoing. The engineer did not learn of the fill through a confidential communication but by driving past the property.
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
he drives by his client's property and notices that the client has installed a substantial amount of fill material
without any permits, variances, or permissions
Source text
A few months after Engineer A completes the services, he drives by his client's property and notices that the client has installed a substantial amount of fill material on more than 1/2 an acre across a portion of the wetlands without any permits, variances, or permissions.
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_Client_Confidentiality_Limits a proeth:ConfidentialityPrinciple,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Engineer A Client Confidentiality Limits" ;
proeth-core:invokedBy case86:Agent_Engineer_A ;
proeth:appliedTo "Client Wetland Fill Violator" ;
proeth:balancingWith "Environmental Law Compliance Principle",
"Public Welfare Paramountcy Principle" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Principle" ;
proeth:concreteExpression "Engineer A holds information about the client's wetland site from the prior engagement, but the question is whether confidentiality obligations extend to shielding the client from accountability for independently observed illegal conduct that was not disclosed to the engineer in confidence." ;
proeth:confidence "0.83" ;
proeth:interpretation "Confidentiality protects information disclosed by a client in the course of a professional engagement. It does not protect a client from the consequences of illegal conduct that the engineer observes independently in a public or semi-public setting after the engagement has concluded. The fill was not a confidential communication but an observable physical act." ;
proeth:invokedBy "Engineer A Wetland Delineation Engineer" ;
proeth:principleClass "Confidentiality Principle" ;
proeth:tensionResolution "Confidentiality does not bar disclosure of independently observed statutory violations, particularly when those violations are substantial and ongoing. The engineer did not learn of the fill through a confidential communication but by driving past the property." ;
proeth:textReferences "he drives by his client's property and notices that the client has installed a substantial amount of fill material",
"without any permits, variances, or permissions" ;
proeth-prov:discoveredInCase 86 ;
proeth-prov:discoveredInPass 2 ;
proeth-prov:discoveredInSection "facts" ;
proeth-prov:firstDiscoveredAt "2026-06-04T17:28:58.159954+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 "A few months after Engineer A completes the services, he drives by his client's property and notices that the client has installed a substantial amount of fill material on more than 1/2 an acre across a portion of the wetlands without any permits, variances, or permissions." ;
proeth-prov:synthesisLiteral "appliedTo",
"balancingWith",
"concreteExpression",
"confidence",
"interpretation",
"principleClass",
"tensionResolution",
"textReferences" ;
rdfs:comment "Engineer A holds information about the client's wetland site from the prior engagement, but the question is whether confidentiality obligations extend to shielding the client from accountability for independently observed illegal conduct that was not disclosed to the engineer in confidence." ;
skos:definition "Engineer A holds information about the client's wetland site from the prior engagement, but the question is whether confidentiality obligations extend to shielding the client from accountability for independently observed illegal conduct that was not disclosed to the engineer in confidence." ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-06-04T17:28:58.159954+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
facts
First discovered
2026-06-04T17:28:58.159954+00:00
First case
86
Generated
2026-06-04T17:28:58.159954+00:00
Attributed to
['Case 86 Extraction', 'claude-sonnet-4-6']
Generated by
ProEthica Case 86 Extraction