Obligation-Conflict Resolution
Case 22-5 (2022) · Professional Responsibility if Appropriate Authority Fails to Act
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
Structural Engineer Building Sale Code Violation Reporting Obligation
prevails over
StructuralEngineer_ConfidentialityVsPublicSafetyObligation
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Confirmed Lead Leaching Risk Without Safeguards
EngineerDoe_PublicInterestEnvironmentalTestimony
prevails over
Engineer Doe Public Hearing Reporting Obligation Industry Process Evaluation
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
No State context committed for this edge.
EngineerB_PublicWelfareSafetyEscalation
prevails over
Engineer B Post-Obligation Citizen Advocacy ABC Engineers Concurrence MWC Water Source
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Engineer B Discharge Following Safety Escalation
- Lead Exposure Risk from Deferred Water Treatment
EngineerB_StateAgencyReporting
prevails over
EngineerB_GraduatedInternalEscalation
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Internal Escalation to MWC Exhausted
- MWC Decision to Proceed Without Concurrent Treatment
EngineerB_PublicWelfareSafetyEscalation
prevails over
EngineerB_ABCEmployerLoyaltyBoundary
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Confirmed Lead Leaching Risk Without Safeguards
- Lead Exposure Risk from Deferred Water Treatment
- MWC Decision to Proceed Without Concurrent Treatment
Engineer B Formal Reporting Obligation Discharge Sufficiency Recognition MWC Water Source
prevails over
EngineerB_PostRegulatoryApprovalEscalationConsideration
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Engineer B Professional-Citizen Boundary Determination
- Engineer B Regulatory Reporting Completed - Authority Inaction
- State Department Approval with Five-Year Deferred Treatment
EngineerB_NonAcquiescenceToClientSafetyOverride
prevails over
EngineerB_ABCEmployerLoyaltyBoundary
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Confirmed Lead Leaching Risk Without Safeguards
- Lead Exposure Risk from Deferred Water Treatment
- MWC Decision to Proceed Without Concurrent Treatment
Open tensions recorded without a resolution:
Engineer B Prior Safety Report Sufficiency Self-Assessment MWC Water Source vs EngineerB_PostRegulatoryApprovalEscalationConsideration
EngineerB_CitizenAdvocacyEmployerConsideration vs EngineerB_PostRegulatoryApprovalEscalationConsideration
What the board concluded
- Any additional steps taken beyond the notification of appropriate authorities are not an obligation of Engineer B but rather a personal choice as a citizen, and should be taken with due consideration of the multiple stakeholders in this matter and the engineer’s many ethical obligations.
How comparable cases resolved the same tension
StructuralEngineer_ConfidentialityVsPublicSafetyObligation yields to Structural Engineer Building Sale Code Violation Reporting Obligation. The yielding obligation ("StructuralEngineer_ConfidentialityVsPublicSafetyObligation") 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
92-6
Public Welfare - Hazardous Waste
|
BER 89-7 Structural Engineer Public Authority Safety Reporting | BER 89-7 Structural Engineer Confidentiality Non-Override Public Safety Reporting | BER 89-7 Confidentiality Agreement Suppressing Safety Report; BER 89-7 Out-of-Scope Code Violation in Occupied Building Sale |
|
19-10
Public Health and Safety— Observed...
|
Engineer A Certificate of Occupancy Authority Re-Notification Structural Deficiency | Engineer A Confidentiality Non-Bar Structural Disclosure County Official | Public Safety at Risk — Structural Instability |
|
90-5
Failure To Report Information Affecting...
|
Current Case Engineer A Tenant Direct Notification Imminent Structural Danger | Engineer A Confidentiality Non-Override Imminent Structural Safety Compliance Failure | Attorney Confidentiality Instruction Over Immediate Safety Findings; Current Case: Public Safety at Risk — Imminent Structural Danger to Tenants; Immediate Structural Threat to Tenant Safety |
|
00-5
Public Welfare—Bridge Structure
|
BER 90-5 Engineer Attorney-Directed Confidentiality Non-Override Imminent Occupant Safety | BER 90-5 Engineer Confidentiality Scope Limitation Public Danger Disclosure | BER 90-5 Attorney-Directed Safety Concealment in Litigation |
|
82-2
Confidentiality of Engineering Report
|
Engineer A Inspection Report Carbon Copy Real Estate Firm Confidentiality Breach | Engineer A Benevolent Motive Non-Cure of Confidentiality Breach | Engineer A Good-Faith Transparency Motive Confidentiality Violation; Non-Self-Interested Confidentiality Violation — Engineer A Mitigating Context |