Obligation-Conflict Resolution
Case 07-10 (2007) · Public Health and Safety—Knowledge of Potentially Dangerous Condition
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
Engineer A BER 00-5 Non-Engineer Override Full-Bore Multi-Authority Escalation
prevails over
Engineer A BER 00-5 Five-Ton Limit Supervisor Escalation
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- BER 00-5 Non-Engineer Public Works Director Reopening Decision
New Owner Priority Notification — Engineer A Should Have Notified Jones Before Town Supervisor
prevails over
Engineer A Present Case Original Designer Post-Sale Barn Safety Notification
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Public Safety at Risk — Barn Structural Collapse Under Snow Load
Persistent Safety Escalation — Engineer A After Town Supervisor Inaction
prevails over
Engineer A Present Case Post-Verbal Written Structural Safety Confirmation to Town Supervisor
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Verbal-Only Safety Advisory to Town Supervisor — No Written Record
Safety Obligation Paramount — Engineer A Barn Collapse Risk Public Welfare
prevails over
No-Current-Client-Relationship Safety Action — Engineer A Post-Sale Barn
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Engineer A Post-Sale Continuing Safety Obligation
Written Structural Safety Confirmation — Engineer A Post-Verbal Town Supervisor Notification
prevails over
Engineer A Present Case Post-Verbal Written Structural Safety Confirmation to Town Supervisor
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Verbal-Only Safety Advisory to Town Supervisor — No Written Record
Engineer A BER 00-5 Bridge Closure Public Pressure Resistance
prevails over
Engineer A BER 00-5 Public Employee Heightened Institutional Safety Responsibility
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- BER 00-5 Multi-Authority Escalation Obligation
Proportional Multi-Step Escalation — Engineer A Barn Snow Load Non-Imminent Collapse Risk
prevails over
Engineer A BER 00-5 Non-Engineer Override Full-Bore Multi-Authority Escalation
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Present Case Non-Imminent Barn Structural Risk
Open tensions recorded without a resolution:
Deadline-Conditioned Escalation — Engineer A After Town Supervisor Non-Response vs Persistent Safety Escalation — Engineer A After Town Supervisor Inaction
Engineer A BER 00-5 Non-Engineer Override Full-Bore Multi-Authority Escalation vs Engineer A BER 00-5 Retired Bridge Inspector Unlicensed Practice Determination and Reporting
Engineer A Present Case vs BER 00-5 Proportional Escalation Calibration vs Safety Obligation Paramount — Engineer A Barn Collapse Risk Public Welfare
New Owner Priority Notification — Engineer A Should Have Notified Jones Before Town Supervisor vs Safety Obligation Paramount — Engineer A Barn Collapse Risk Public Welfare
No-Current-Client-Relationship Safety Action — Engineer A Post-Sale Barn vs Original Designer Post-Sale Safety Notification — Engineer A Barn Snow Load Collapse Risk
Persistent Safety Escalation — Engineer A After Town Supervisor Inaction vs Written Structural Safety Confirmation — Engineer A Post-Verbal Town Supervisor Notification
What the board concluded
- Engineer A has fulfilled his ethical obligation by taking prudent action in notifying the town supervisor—the individual presumably with the most authority in the jurisdiction.
How comparable cases resolved the same tension
Engineer A BER 00-5 Five-Ton Limit Supervisor Escalation yields to Engineer A BER 00-5 Non-Engineer Override Full-Bore Multi-Authority Escalation. The yielding obligation ("Engineer A BER 00-5 Five-Ton Limit Supervisor Escalation") 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
12-11
Public Health and Safety—Scaffolding for...
|
Engineer A BER 00-5 Full-Bore Multi-Authority Campaign Bridge Collapse | Engineer A BER 00-5 Five-Ton Limit Strict Enforcement Supervisor Escalation | Multi-Authority Escalation Obligation — BER 00-5 Bridge |
|
19-10
Public Health and Safety— Observed...
|
Engineer A BER 07-10 Written Record and Follow-Up Confirmation Obligation | Engineer A BER 07-10 Proportional Escalation Non-Imminent Barn Collapse | Non-Imminent Structural Collapse Risk - BER Case 07-10 |
|
21-12
Duty to Report – Material Information
|
Engineer A Non-Subordination Political Bargain BER 98-5 Grandfathering Ordinance | Engineer A Persistent Escalation BER 19-10 Structural Instability | BER 19-10 County Building Official Non-Response State |
|
10-5
Public Health and Safety—Observing...
|
Engineer A Employer Intermediary Escalation ES Consulting Owner Y Safety | Engineer A Permissible Employer Escalation Adjacent Safety Observation | -- |
|
88-6
Whistleblowing - City Engineer
|
Engineer A Mandatory Statutory Wastewater Overflow Reporting State Authority | Engineer A Graduated Internal Escalation Sanitary System Overflow | Engineer A Internal Escalation Exhausted — City Officials Complicit; Imminent Waste Discharge Mandatory State Reporting Obligation Activated; Internal Escalation Exhausted — Sanitary System Safety |