Obligation-Conflict Resolution
Case 17-3 (2017) · Public Health, Safety and Welfare—Discovery of Structural Defect Affecting Subdivision
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
Featured
Incidental Observation Safety Disclosure Engineer A Current Case Subdivision Beam
prevails over
Faithful Agent Obligation Within Ethical Limits Engineer A Current Case Insurance Company
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Client Relationship — Insurance Company Forensic Engagement
- Forensic Arson Investigation Scope-Exceeding Structural Defect Discovery
- Public Safety Obligation Beyond Client Relationship
- Systemic Subdivision Defect — Present Case
- Systemic Tract Home Subdivision Design Defect Risk
Non-Engineer Override Resistance Escalation Engineer A BER 00-5 Bridge
prevails over
Public Pressure Resistance Engineer A BER 00-5 Petition Rally
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Community Petition Overriding Bridge Safety Closure — BER Case 00-5
Confidentiality Non-Override Public Danger Engineer A Current Case Insurance Client
prevails over
Faithful Agent Obligation Within Ethical Limits Engineer A Current Case Insurance Company
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Client Relationship — Insurance Company Forensic Engagement
- Forensic Arson Investigation Scope-Exceeding Structural Defect Discovery
- Public Safety Obligation Beyond Client Relationship
- Systemic Subdivision Defect — Present Case
- Systemic Tract Home Subdivision Design Defect Risk
Systemic Tract Defect Multi-Party Notification Engineer A Current Case Subdivision
prevails over
Faithful Agent Obligation Within Ethical Limits Engineer A Current Case Insurance Company
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Client Relationship — Insurance Company Forensic Engagement
- Forensic Arson Investigation Scope-Exceeding Structural Defect Discovery
- Public Safety Obligation Beyond Client Relationship
- Systemic Subdivision Defect — Present Case
- Systemic Tract Home Subdivision Design Defect Risk
Ethics Code Higher Standard Non-Reliance Engineer A Insurance Report Current Case
prevails over
Prior Safety Report Sufficiency Self-Assessment Engineer A Current Case State Board Finding
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Regulatory Adequacy Determination — Present Case
- Regulatory Minimum vs. NSPE Ethical Threshold — Present Case
Proportional Escalation Calibrated Risk Current Case Between BER 00-5 and 07-10
prevails over
Faithful Agent Obligation Within Ethical Limits Engineer A Current Case Insurance Company
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Client Relationship — Insurance Company Forensic Engagement
- Forensic Arson Investigation Scope-Exceeding Structural Defect Discovery
- Public Safety Obligation Beyond Client Relationship
- Systemic Subdivision Defect — Present Case
- Systemic Tract Home Subdivision Design Defect Risk
Non-Engineer Override Resistance Escalation Engineer A BER 00-5 Bridge
prevails over
Crutch Pile Adequacy Verification Collaborative Engineer A BER 00-5 Consulting Firm
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Bridge Closure Non-Engineer Override — BER Case 00-5
Open tensions recorded without a resolution:
Ethics Code Higher Standard Non-Reliance Engineer A Insurance Report Current Case vs Faithful Agent Obligation Within Ethical Limits Engineer A Current Case Insurance Company
Persistent Safety Escalation Engineer A BER 07-10 Town Supervisor Written Follow-Up vs Written Third-Party Safety Notification Engineer A BER 07-10 Jones Barn Owner
What the board concluded
- Contrary to the advice of the State Board of Professional Engineers, Engineer A did not fulfill his ethical obligations under the NSPE Code of Ethics by only providing the report to the insurance company that retained him.
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 |