The body of Ed Walden, an employee of the United Steel Workers of America, was found dead in an abandoned, flooded bauxite pit on February 29, 1958, at 4:25 A.M.
Walden's automobile was found partially submerged in water on a private road which led downhill into the flooded bauxite pit. The hood of the car was covered in water and the rear wheels were underwater up to the hubcaps. The gearshift was in reverse and the emergency brake was set. All car doors were closed and the windows were up, except the window on the driver's side of the car. It was rolled down.
The Walden car had come to a stop with the left front wheel resting on a steep ledge. His body was found in fifteen feet of water, approximately one hundred feet from the automobile.
The bauxite pit in which Walden's body was found had been excavated and owned by the Aluminum Company of America ("ALCOA").

Ed Walden was married and had three children. At the time of his death, he had for several years been an employee of the United Steel Workers of America. His responsibility was the handling of grievance matters for about 2,500 workers in the aluminum industry. Many of the employees worked at night, and most of Walden's work was done after 7:00 P.M. On occasion, he would work all night, contacting union members in the Sardis, Bauxite, and Mount Olive communities.

The car keys were found in Walden's pocket. The autopsy showed Walden had met death by drowning. There was no evidence or suggestion that he had committed suicide.

ALCOA, since 1941, the beginning of World War II, had been extensively engaged in mining operations in the Bauxite area of Saline County, Arkansas. In support of its mining operations, ALCOA had constructed a network of roads leading into the pits and from the pits to processing and shipping terminals. These roads were built by ALCOA to carry heavy loads: tractors, steam shovels, cranes, and eukes loaded with bauxite ore. ALCOA's private roads were designed and constructed on a comparable level to the county public roads serving the Bauxite community, and were similar in appearance.
Customarily, when the ore in a bauxite pit had been excavated and exhausted, the pit was abandoned to the elements. In the course of time, the pit would become flooded and remain filled with water.
Herbert Jarrett was labor relations director for Reynolds Metals Company, where many of the steel worker union members were employed. On the evening of February 28, 1958, Mr. Walden, Mr. Jarrett and Mr. Guy Bass, a labor union officer, met in Little Rock to discuss business matters. The meeting lasted until about 1:00 a.m. of February 29th. At this meeting, Walden agreed to a change in the date of another meeting, previously arranged for the following Friday. This change placed a burden on Walden to immediately notify other members of the union about the change in date of the next meeting. After the Little Rock meeting between Walden, Jarrett and Bass ended, Walden drove Bass to Benton, where they continued to discuss union matters until about 4:00 in the morning. At that time Walden drove away in his car. He was not seen again.

Ed Walden's body and car were found in ALCOA's flooded and abandoned bauxite Pit No. 14.
Pit No. 14 was approximately four miles east of Bauxite. A motorist driving east from Bauxite on the county road moving along the route BFAD would be led to the Mount Olive community.

The county road leading to the Mount Olive community intersects at Point A (14) with the ALCOA private road leading down to Pit No. 14; the Mount Olive Road continues generally east. The private ALCOA road leading to Pit No. 14, from its intersection with the Bauxite-Mount Olive public road, at intersection A, has the same width, appearance and construction as the county road leading to Mount Olive. The only warning sign at this intersection is a "private road" sign on the left side of the bauxite pit road.

According to the evidence, a motorist turning from the Mount Olive road to the left, heading down to the bauxite Pit No. 14 at night, would not see the "private road" sign. It would not be visible at night. There was no other warning sign, danger sign, or any barricade to alert a traveler that he was heading into an open, abandoned, flooded bauxite pit.
Ed Walden left surviving him a widow and three children. The facts outlined above gave rise to the following questions:

1. Was the Aluminum Company of America at fault; if so, was ALCOA's fault a proximate cause of Ed Walden's death?
2. Was Ed Walden's death caused "while driving or riding within an automobile" so as to entitle Walden's widow to the benefits of a life insurance policy carried with the Automobile Owner's Safety Insurance Company?
3. Did Ed Walden's death occur while he was "acting within the course and scope of his employment" so as to entitle Walden's widow and children to benefits under Arkansas Workmen's Compensation Law?

A. Was ALCOA at fault?
If so, was this fault a proximate cause of the death of Ed Walden, so as to entitle Walden's family to recover damages in a wrongful death action?

ALCOA had been for over a half a century a major company engaged in the mining of bauxite ore. Bauxite ore was required to produce the aluminum required for manufacturing airplanes for the war.
ALCOA, the people of Bauxite and Saline County, produced the bauxite needed for the production of aluminum to make the planes which supported the troops during World War II.

ALCOA, after the war, cut back its bauxite mining to pre-war levels. But the land in the Bauxite area had been ravaged, pitted with abandoned, flooded bauxite mines. The land looked like the surface of the moon. (Exhibit C)

ALCOA had built a web of service roads to the bauxite quarries and pits and connecting with the county roads in the Bauxite area. One of the ALCOA bauxite pits left abandoned was Pit No. 14 with a private road intersecting with the county road leading to the Mount Olive community from Bauxite.

Ed Walden was an employee of ALCOA from 1935 until March 1946 in the capacity of an oiler foreman. As such, it was his duty to visit the mines in order to oil the mining equipment. From 1946 to 1948, Walden worked for Reynolds Metals Company as an operator in one of their chemical plants. In that capacity he made frequent trips in the general area of ALCOA's operations. Walden then went to work for the United Steel Workers of America as an international staff representative and served in that capacity until his death.

Was Walden aware that the road he took down to Pit No. 14 was a private road?

Was he aware that the road led into an abandoned, flooded pit?

Was there a sign or warning visible at night that would have warned him of this danger?

Was Walden a trespasser on ALCOA's private road? If so, the only duty that ALCOA owed to Walden was not to cause injury to him after his presence on ALCOA's property was discovered.

Did the private road to Pit No. 14 at its intersection with the Bauxite-Mount Olive road have the appearance of a public road? In that event, he would be considered an invitee and ALCOA would be under a duty to exercise reasonable care to protect him from injury.

Ed Walden's widow and children brought a wrongful death suit against ALCOA which was tried and submitted to the jury. A verdict was returned for the family. A motion was filed by ALCOA requesting the court to set aside the verdict on the ground that there was no substantial evidence to support the jury's findings for the family. The trial judge entered a judgment based upon the jury's verdict, and ALCOA's motion to set aside the verdict was declined. ALCOA appealed to the Supreme Court of Arkansas.
We frequently hear of verdicts returned by a jury where it is contended by the losing party that the verdict was based upon purely circumstantial evidence, that there was no direct proof supporting the verdict. What is meant by circumstantial evidence? Circumstantial evidence may be illustrated by the following:
You go to bed at night; the sky is clear; the stars are out; there is no precipitation. In the morning when you get up, you walk out the door and you see snow covering the ground. You observe a rabbit's tracks crossing your yard. You did not see it snow. You did not see a rabbit. However, it is reasonable to infer from what you do observe that during the night it did snow and after the snow fell, a rabbit hopped across your yard.
Dealing with a contention by ALCOA that there was no direct proof supporting the jury's verdict that it was based upon circumstantial evidence, the Supreme Court found:

Viewing the evidence presented to the jury, we hold that there was
sufficient proof for the jury to find:

(a) Walden drove over the private road at night;

(b) that he was not under the influence of liquor;

(c) that he was misled into believing that he was on the public road;

(d) that he did not assume the risk by reason of any familiarity with the private road; and

(e) that his death was the result of ALCOA's negligence.

ALCOA, in its brief and argument to the Supreme Court, in its efforts to reverse the verdict of the jury and the trial court's judgment, argued that to sustain the judgment it was necessary to base it on a pyramid of inferences, that there was no positive proof that:

1. Walden entered the private road and the water pit during the nighttime;

2. that he was traveling from the direction of Bauxite when he entered the private road;

3. that he died at the time his watch stopped;

4. that he did not commit suicide.

In dealing with this argument advanced by ALCOA, the Supreme Court stated, "The answer to this argument is that it is within the province of the jury to draw certain inferences from facts and circumstances as we have frequently held."

It was, therefore, the opinion of the Supreme Court that the judgment of the trial court on behalf of the widow and children of Ed Walden be affirmed.
Thus, we see in the Walden case, another dramatic example where our system of law opens its doors to the humblest of citizens. We see how a great company, serving the country in time of war and contributing substantially to the economy of the community where it carried on its mining operations, is held accountable under the law by a jury drawn from the community where they all lived.

Was Ed Walden's death caused "while driving or riding within an automobile" so as to entitle Walden's widow to the benefits of a life insurance policy carried with the Automobile Owner's Safety Insurance Company?

Ed Walden lost his life by drowning in an abandoned, flooded bauxite pit.
The bauxite pit was owned and had been mined by ALCOA.
A private road leading to the flooded pit was built by ALCOA and connected to a Saline County road. The composition and structure of the private road leading to the bauxite pit was similar in appearance, width and structure to the county road leading to the Mount Olive community, where some members of the steel workers union lived.

There were no signs warning of danger, nor barricades or obstructions on the private road. When Walden drove down the private road to his death in the flooded bauxite pit, he was an implied invitee. ALCOA owed Walden and the traveling public a duty of exercising reasonable care to avoid death or injury to a motorist, mistakenly taking the wrong road and driving into the flooded pit.

Walden left surviving him a widow and three children. Action was brought by the survivors against ALCOA for negligence in causing Ed Walden's death. The case was tried in Saline County before a jury selected from the Saline County community. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the Walden family and judgment was so entered by the trial judge. ALCOA appealed to the Supreme Court of Arkansas and the judgment was affirmed.

Ed Walden had a life insurance policy on which his widow was the named beneficiary. She filed suit against the insurance company under the provisions of the policy after her claim was denied by the insurance company on the grounds that Ed Walden was not killed "while driving or riding in an automobile."

The widow's insurance claim was tried before the circuit judge in Saline County, who ruled in favor of the insurance company and against Mrs. Walden. Mrs. Walden appealed. On the question of whether Walden met death while driving or riding in an automobile, the Supreme Court found that the accident occurred when Walden drove his automobile into the open pit. In an effort to reach safety, he was drowned. In holding for the widow, the court found that this accident was the proximate cause of his death, and was covered under the provisions of the policy.

Did Ed Walden's death occur while he was "acting within the course and scope of his employment" so as to entitle Walden's widow and children to benefits under Arkansas Workmen's Compensation Law?

Ed Walden was working for the United Steel Workers of America which had workmen's compensation coverage on their employees. The family of Walden brought suit against the workmen's compensation insurance carrier after the company declined to pay the claim, contending that Walden was not within the scope of his employment at the time of his death.

The workmen's compensation claim was filed with the Workmen's Compensation Commission; the claim was granted and affirmed on appeal to the Supreme Court of Arkansas.

Each of these three cases, on behalf of the Walden Family, was opposed by ALCOA. Each was reviewed and judgment entered by the Arkansas Supreme Court for the Waldens. The Walden cases are another example of the workings of our judicial system, and how the most humble citizens can secure justice under the law.
Ed Walden's youngest child at the time of his death was a daughter. I recently received a letter from her. She was prompted to write after having read a good article about me in the newspaper. She expressed her best wishes and thanks for what was done for her and her family nearly fifty years ago. A lawyer's greatest reward is a gratified client.

In the lawsuit of Walden v. The Aluminum Company of America, we have described a view of approximately 3,500 acres of land containing numerous abandoned bauxite pits. Then the pits fill with water; the water becomes contaminated from the acid-permeated soil; the run-off poisons the streams and rivers in the area, creating a severe environmental problem.
What were the circumstances causing the land to be devastated, the bauxite pits abandoned and subsequently flooded, creating a safety and environmental hazard in our state? I feel that a consideration of the background leading up to ALCOA's blighted land and open pits is in order.
In 1896, over one hundred years ago, Colonel J. R. Gibbons came to Arkansas from Rome, Georgia. His quest was to check out reports of the existence of bauxite ore in Saline County. The reports of rich bauxite ore deposits were confirmed. Colonel Gibbons and his son began acquiring land and began modest mining operations, using labor, scoops and mule-teams.
By 1912, Colonel Gibbons had acquired 15,000 acres of land, built the largest bauxite mining company in the world, and built a community in the process. [He called this enterprise The Aluminum Company of America, later known as "ALCOA".]

A short time before the beginning of World War II, ALCOA began to improve its mining methods by using more mechanical and hydraulic equipment. It was still a modest operation. ALCOA's mining policy was conservative, designed to husband its bauxite ore for the future. The attack on Pearl Harbor disrupted ALCOA's well-laid future mining plans.

President Franklin Roosevelt, immediately after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the declaration of war, announced that America would build 100,000 airplanes to support our troops. The experts didn't believe it could be done. Hitler did not believe it. The bauxite needed to produce the aluminum to make the airplanes had been coming from South America. This supply was cut off by marauding German submarines which sunk the cargo ships loaded with tons of bauxite ore bound for the United States.
The German U-boats, virtually unchallenged, dominated the sea lanes from South America.
Roosevelt, in making his bold and optimistic announcement, had knowledge that the experts did not have, and that Hitler did not have. The President was aware of the bauxite deposits in Bauxite, Arkansas. He knew the company and the character of the people who would be called upon to dig out the ore.
ALCOA, in order to meet the demands of the government and the needs of war, accelerated its mining operations. The federal government furnished sophisticated mining equipment; labor and management merged; ALCOA and the people of Saline County went all out, working around the clock on 12-hour shifts to get the job done. All the families in the community joined in support of this project with patriotic fervor.
The challenge was met. The ore was dug from the soil, aluminum was produced; planes were built; battles were fought; victories won.
Our armed forces were victorious. Their victory was shared by American industry and labor--by ALCOA, the people of Bauxite and Saline County, Arkansas.
Victory won: what about the land, the devastated land?
What about the environmental hazard, the pollution of water in the rivers and streams?

"The changes in the operation of the mines during the War, were instituted by the government over the strong objections of ALCOA management. Unfortunately, they resulted in significant environmental damages. Today, we can look back at decisions made by the government over fifty years ago, to provide the supplies it needed, as proof of the environmental problems of this State."
Curing the despoiled land was undertaken tardily and tentatively. In the mid-1970s state regulations were put in place requiring reclamation of the lands disturbed by mining since 1971. The regulations further required the treatment of all acid mine drainage, regardless or origin. All mine damaged water must meet discharge quality limits.]

ALCOA's mining site contains 9,000 acres. 3,300 acres of this land has been mined of which 1,830 acres were mined during the War. "The run-off from this acreage contains elevated levels of metals, does not comply with Arkansas water quality criteria."

In 1990 ALCOA launched a comprehensive rehabilitation program designed to restore the quality of this despoiled land to meet state mining and water quality standards. Approximately 1,000 acres have been restored to date. The water quality of the run-off has been significantly improved in this reclaimed area. ALCOA is moving towards the objective of reclaiming all the lands, disturbed by the wartime conditions, to its natural state.

"To date, since 1990 over $25 million have been spent to reclaim mined-over lands and the disposal area created by the refining of the bauxite."
ALCOA, working with concerned state agencies and conservation groups, expects to complete its rehabilitation plans by the year 2005. This area of reclaimed land will become a wildlife habitat and sanctuary. The bauxite pits will be "clear lakes." Vegetative cover, foliage and flowers, once abundant, will again flourish.

This reclamation of ravaged land, this partnership between a great company, state agencies and the local community is a model, an epic in the history of rehabilitation and conservation. It is a dramatic example of how a private company, state agencies and local citizens, can rehabilitate ravaged land, and restore a poisoned water resource. It is a precedent to show how citizens on a community level, can protect the environment for future generations. It is hoped that this combined action plan to restore this ravaged bauxite area will be completed.

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1 ALCOA's Arkansas Operations Bauxite Mine Reclamation Program, January 25, 1999.
2 Id.
3 Id.