Obligation-Conflict Resolution
Case 09-10 (2009) · Withholding Information Useful to Client/Public Agency
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
Review Engineer A Peer Review Safety Code Sequential Escalation BER 96-8
prevails over
Review Engineer A Confidentiality Non-Override of Public Safety BER 96-8
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- BER 96-8 Peer Review Safety Violation Discovery
Featured
Engineer A Collegial Counsel to Engineer X Before Board Report
prevails over
Engineer A Competitor Unlicensed Firm Practice State Board Report XYZ Engineering
the two obligations are in tension (competesWith)
the yielding obligation gives way only under (defeasibleUnder):
- Engineer A Collegial Correction Priority Before Formal Reporting
Open tensions recorded without a resolution:
Engineer A Competitive Interest Non-Subordination of Reporting Duty State P vs Engineer A Reporting Motivation Purity Competitive Interest Scrutiny
Engineer A Competitor Unlicensed Firm Practice State Board Report XYZ Engineering vs Engineer A Non-Immediate Board Reporting for Engineer X Inadvertent Violation
What the board concluded
- Engineer A should communicate with Engineer X to obtain clarification regarding the matter in question.
- If Engineer A is not sufficiently satisfied with Engineer X's explanation, Engineer A may be required to report this matter to the state engineering licensure board.
How comparable cases resolved the same tension
Engineer A Competitor Unlicensed Firm Practice State Board Report XYZ Engineering yields to Engineer A Collegial Counsel to Engineer X Before Board Report. The yielding obligation ("Engineer A Competitor Unlicensed Firm Practice State Board Report XYZ Engineering") 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) |
|---|---|---|---|
|
22-1
Unlicensed Practice by Nonengineers with...
|
Engineer A Public Welfare Safety Escalation Regarding Systemic Unqualified Review Practice | Engineer A Unlicensed Practice Reporting of Transportation Engineer B to Licensing Board | Profession-Wide Title Integrity Erosion from Agency Practice |
|
15-2
Misrepresentation - Changes Made to...
|
Engineer A Sealed Report Unauthorized Alteration Correction and Notification | Engineer A Non-Association with XYZ Engineering Fraudulent Enterprise | Engineer A Competing Duties — Employer Loyalty vs. Public Welfare |
|
22-4
Duty to Report Misconduct
|
Engineer A Jurisdiction-Specific Threshold Analysis State Z Reporting Required | Competitor Qualification Proposal Misconduct Reporting Obligation Engineer A State Z | -- |
|
79-7
Review of Original Engineer's Design
|
Engineer A Non-Obstruction of Legitimate Peer Review Via Complaint Filing | Engineer A Baseless Regulatory Complaint Non-Filing Against Engineer B | Engineer A Self-Serving Complaint Against Reviewing Engineer |
|
10-5
Public Health and Safety—Observing...
|
Engineer A Out-of-Scope Adjacent Safety Observation Non-Mandatory Response | Engineer A Adjacent Third-Party Safety Disclosure Owner Y | Engineer A Out-of-Scope Adjacent Site Safety Observation; Engineer A Personal Conscience Discretion on Adjacent Site Safety; Potential Unconfirmed Safety Risk – Adjacent Subcontractor Work |