Engineer A Confidentiality Limits Wetland Violation
O · Obligation
Individual
http://proethica.org/ontology/case/86#Engineer_A_Confidentiality_Limits_Wetland_Violation
Definition
Engineer A is obligated to recognize that any confidentiality duty arising from the prior wetland delineation engagement does not shield the client's subsequent, independently observed violation of federal and state wetland law from disclosure to regulatory authorities, and that the duty to report overrides any residual confidentiality interest.
Properties
Instance of
ConfidentialityLimitsPublicLawObligation
http://proethica.org/ontology/intermediate#ConfidentialityLimitsPublicLawObligation
Case context
Engineer A holds information about the client's wetland site from the prior delineation engagement, but the client's subsequent unpermitted fill is a new, independently observed act that constitutes a substantial violation of law, not information confided during the engagement.
Compliance status
unclear
Confidence
0.84
Obligation statement
Engineer A is obligated to recognize that any confidentiality duty arising from the prior wetland delineation engagement does not shield the client's subsequent, independently observed violation of federal and state wetland law from disclosure to regulatory authorities, and that the duty to report overrides any residual confidentiality interest.
Temporal scope
Upon recognition that the observed violation is a matter of public law rather than confidential client information.
Match Confidence
0.72
Match Reasoning
Via class 'Confidentiality Limits Public Law Obligation': The existing Client Instruction Limits Obligation addresses the duty to decline client instructions that would require violating professional ethics. The present class addresses the analogous situation where a confidentiality obligation, rather than a client instruction, is invoked to shield a statutory violation. The concept is related but distinct enough to warrant a separate class. The existing Confidentiality Obligation class in the ontology is too general. The closest match is Client Instruction Limits Obligation as a structural analog, but confidence is moderate because the mechanism differs.
Matched Ontology Label
Client Instruction Limits Obligation
Matches Existing
true
Synthesis Literal
caseContext
complianceStatus
confidence
obligationClass
obligationStatement
temporalScope
textReferences
Relationships
competesWith
Engineer A Observed Violation Disclosure
defeasibleUnder
Engineer A Wetl and Fill Violation Discovery
obligatedParty
Agent Engineer A
derivedFromPrinciple
Engineer A Client Confidentiality Limits
Source Evidence
Text references
Engineer A performs wetland delineation services on the client's wetland site.
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.
Source text
Engineer A performs wetland delineation services on the client's wetland site.
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_Confidentiality_Limits_Wetland_Violation a proeth:ConfidentialityLimitsPublicLawObligation,
owl:NamedIndividual ;
rdfs:label "Engineer A Confidentiality Limits Wetland Violation" ;
proeth-core:competesWith case86:Engineer_A_Observed_Violation_Disclosure ;
proeth-core:defeasibleUnder case86:Engineer_A_Wetland_Fill_Violation_Discovery ;
proeth-core:obligatedParty case86:Agent_Engineer_A ;
proeth:caseContext "Engineer A holds information about the client's wetland site from the prior delineation engagement, but the client's subsequent unpermitted fill is a new, independently observed act that constitutes a substantial violation of law, not information confided during the engagement." ;
proeth:complianceStatus "unclear" ;
proeth:conceptCategory "Obligation" ;
proeth:confidence "0.84" ;
proeth:derivedFromPrinciple case86:Engineer_A_Client_Confidentiality_Limits ;
proeth:obligatedParty "Engineer A" ;
proeth:obligationClass "Confidentiality Limits Public Law Obligation" ;
proeth:obligationStatement "Engineer A is obligated to recognize that any confidentiality duty arising from the prior wetland delineation engagement does not shield the client's subsequent, independently observed violation of federal and state wetland law from disclosure to regulatory authorities, and that the duty to report overrides any residual confidentiality interest." ;
proeth:temporalScope "Upon recognition that the observed violation is a matter of public law rather than confidential client information." ;
proeth:textReferences "Engineer A performs wetland delineation services on the client's wetland site.",
"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:discoveredInCase 86 ;
proeth-prov:discoveredInPass 2 ;
proeth-prov:discoveredInSection "facts" ;
proeth-prov:firstDiscoveredAt "2026-06-04T17:30:01.042237+00:00"^^xsd:dateTime ;
proeth-prov:firstDiscoveredInCase 86 ;
proeth-prov:matchConfidence 0.72 ;
proeth-prov:matchReasoning "Via class 'Confidentiality Limits Public Law Obligation': The existing Client Instruction Limits Obligation addresses the duty to decline client instructions that would require violating professional ethics. The present class addresses the analogous situation where a confidentiality obligation, rather than a client instruction, is invoked to shield a statutory violation. The concept is related but distinct enough to warrant a separate class. The existing Confidentiality Obligation class in the ontology is too general. The closest match is Client Instruction Limits Obligation as a structural analog, but confidence is moderate because the mechanism differs." ;
proeth-prov:matchedOntologyClass proeth:ClientInstructionLimitsObligation ;
proeth-prov:matchedOntologyLabel "Client Instruction Limits Obligation" ;
proeth-prov:matchesExisting true ;
proeth-prov:sourceText "Engineer A performs wetland delineation services on the client's wetland site." ;
proeth-prov:synthesisLiteral "caseContext",
"complianceStatus",
"confidence",
"obligationClass",
"obligationStatement",
"temporalScope",
"textReferences" ;
rdfs:comment "Engineer A is obligated to recognize that any confidentiality duty arising from the prior wetland delineation engagement does not shield the client's subsequent, independently observed violation of federal and state wetland law from disclosure to regulatory authorities, and that the duty to report overrides any residual confidentiality interest." ;
skos:definition "Engineer A is obligated to recognize that any confidentiality duty arising from the prior wetland delineation engagement does not shield the client's subsequent, independently observed violation of federal and state wetland law from disclosure to regulatory authorities, and that the duty to report overrides any residual confidentiality interest." ;
prov:generatedAtTime "2026-06-04T17:30:01.042237+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
2026-06-04T17:30:01.042237+00:00
First case
86
Generated
2026-06-04T17:30:01.042237+00:00
Attributed to
['Case 86 Extraction', 'claude-sonnet-4-6']
Generated by
ProEthica Case 86 Extraction