Obligation-Conflict Resolution
Case 93-3 (1993) · Appropriate Notification And Review Of Another Engineer's Work
Professional obligations conflict, and the board applies no fixed rule for which one wins.
Each resolution is recorded as three edges:
competesWith (the tension),
prevailsOver (the obligation the board allowed to win in this case), and
defeasibleUnder (the situation under which the yielding obligation gives way).
The same tension is then traced across comparable cases, where its resolution shifts with context.
Hover any obligation or state to see its definition; click to open it in OntServe.
How this case resolved it
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Engineer B Client Confidentiality Instruction Faithful Agent Compliance BER Case
prevails over
Engineer B Peer Review Notification of Engineer A Despite Client Instruction
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Client Covert Review Instruction to Engineer B
- Franchiser Covert Review Instruction to Engineer B
- Notification Duty vs. Faithful Agent Duty Conflict
Engineer B Covert Review Client Instruction Resistance
prevails over
Engineer B Client Confidentiality Instruction Faithful Agent Compliance BER Case
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Engineer A Incumbent Active Contract State
- Incumbent Engineer Under Active Review Without Knowledge
Engineer B Faithful Agent Peer Review Collegial Boundary Exercise
prevails over
Engineer B Client Confidentiality Instruction Faithful Agent Compliance BER Case
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Engineer A Incumbent Active Contract State
- Incumbent Engineer Under Active Review Without Knowledge
Engineer B Client Confidentiality Instruction Faithful Agent Compliance BER Case
prevails over
Engineer B Peer Review Notification and Consent Fulfillment
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Client Covert Review Instruction to Engineer B
- Notification Duty vs. Faithful Agent Duty Conflict
- Peer Review Confidentiality Agreement Absent — Engineer A Design Review
Open tensions recorded without a resolution:
Engineer B Faithful Agent Peer Review Collegial Boundary Exercise vs Engineer B Faithful Agent Trustee General Loyalty Non-Fiduciary Interpretation BER Case
Engineer B Faithful Agent Peer-Review Collegial Duty Boundary BER Case Discussion vs Engineer B Reviewed Engineer Technical Comment Opportunity Preservation BER Case
What the board concluded
- Engineer B's act of notifying Engineer A of his relationship with franchiser was not consistent with the Code.
- The Board was split on the second question and could not reach agreement.
How comparable cases resolved the same tension
A faithful-agent duty yields to a public-protection obligation. The yielding obligation ("Faithful Agent") recurs across cases; the obligation that overrides it and the context under which it yields differ case by case. This is the case-law move: not a single rule, but a family of context-indexed resolutions.
| Case | Obligation that prevailed | Yielding obligation | Context (defeasibleUnder) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
24-01
Balancing Client Directives and Public...
|
Engineer L Client Budget Pressure Refusal | Engineer L Faithful Agent Boundary | Engineer L Confirmed Risk Without Safeguards; Engineer L Resource Constrained Client |
| Engineer L Client Override Regulatory Report | Engineer L Faithful Agent Boundary | Engineer L Confirmed Risk Without Safeguards; Engineer L Resource Constrained Client | |
|
20-4
Public Health, Safety, and...
|
Engineer B Post-Override Regulatory Reporting | Engineer B Faithful Agent Boundary | MWC Override of Engineers A and B |
| Engineer A Post-Override Regulatory Reporting | Engineer A Faithful Agent Boundary | MWC Override of Engineers A and B | |
|
95-5
Failure To Include Information In...
|
Engineer B Expert Witness Neutrality | Engineer B Faithful Agent Boundary | Engineer B Adversarial Engagement; Engineer B Client Defense Bias |
| Engineer B Complete Technical Reporting | Engineer B Faithful Agent Boundary | Engineer B Adversarial Engagement; Engineer B Client Defense Bias | |
|
04-8
Public Welfare—Client Action Following...
|
Engineer A Safety Obligation Wetland Fill | Engineer A Faithful Agent Limits Wetland | Engineer A Confirmed Environmental Risk; Engineer A Faithful Agent Duty Conflict |
| Engineer A Wetland Confidentiality Limits | Engineer A Faithful Agent Limits Wetland | Engineer A Confirmed Environmental Risk; Engineer A Faithful Agent Duty Conflict |