Alabama Workers' Comp Blawg

100 Year Anniversary of Goodyear Blimp and 96.5 Year Anniversary of Alabama Blimp Tragedy

On June 3, 2025, Goodyear will celebrate 100 years of soaring over America’s favorite sporting events. Approximately 3.5 years after Goodyear blimps first began flying across the country, the company announced that it would build a tire manufacturing plant in the moderately sized city of Gadsden, Alabama. It would be the first such plant in the South. Gadsden had nudged out a bevy of other suitors such as Atlanta due to its central location, abundant natural resources, and a readily available workforce. The Gadsden plant opened in July of 1929, with a ceremony and dedication. Although the community was happy to cut the ribbon and start making tires, the real excitement came with the news that one of the Goodyear blimps would soon be paying a visit. In December of the following year, the Goodyear airship “Defender” traveled from Nashville to Gadsden. During the trip, the blimp became lighter due to expended fuel and sandbags that were dropped to help navigate in the face of a strong headwind. When several Gadsden plant employees attempted to secure the blimp by grabbing the ropes hanging from the blimp, a gust of wind caused Defender to unexpectedly lunge upwards. All but two employees dropped their rope. One of the two remaining rope holders let go at approximately 25 feet and sustained a back injury from the ensuing fall. Unfortunately, the other man did not drop his rope when he had the chance. As the airship climbed higher, the pilot tried to maneuver the ship over the Coosa River to offer the man a softer landing. Unfortunately, the man ran out of grip strength before the blimp was over the river. After holding on for close to 10 minutes, Iken Douglas Phillips plummeted 150 feet to his death. In one disastrous incident, the Gadsden plant had incurred two of its first Alabama workers’ compensation claims. 

My Two Cents:

In the last two years, there has been a concerted effort by a few Alabama plaintiffs’ attorneys to have the entire Alabama WC Act declared unconstitutional. One of the challenges recently made it to the Alabama Supreme Court. Fortunately, the Act survived that round. Had Alabama’s high court agreed with the plaintiff’s position, it would have eradicated more than 100 years of the Grand Bargain which offers indemnity and medical benefits through no fault insurance in exchange for said benefits being the exclusive remedy against the employer.

So, what would have happened to the injured Goodyear employee and what recourse would the deceased employee’s dependents have had without the Alabama WC Act to provide no fault benefits? The answer is that they would have had to prove that Goodyear or perhaps the blimp pilot breached a duty of care and, said breach, caused the accident. Even if they were able to prove negligence or even wantonness against one or more of the defendants, the defendants would have asserted that the employees were contributorily negligent and/or assumed the risk by not letting go of the rope like their co-employees. Let’s not also forget that the stock market crash leading to the Great Depression had occurred a few months after the plant opened and Goodyear had become THE EMPLOYER of Etowah County. The reality was that no juror was going to bite the proverbial hand that was feeding the community. That means the employee and the dependents would have been on their own without any recourse, benefits, or financial assistance to help them.

A Few More Cents:

In the last 105 years, the Alabama WC Act has grown from a meager 33 pages to more than 450 pages. Despite the many statutory additions, changes, and court interpretations, the Grand Bargain remains in effect. The recent constitutional challenges have been unsuccessful to date, but they are occurring more often and with new and inventive arguments. Unless updates are made to some of the more obviously outdated provisions, we can expect the challenges to keep coming. As they say, even a blind squirrel sometimes finds a nut. This nut will send Alabama into the pre-Grand Bargain work accident dark ages.

About the Author:

This article was prepared by Mike Fish, an attorney with Fish Nelson amp; Holden, LLC, a law firm dedicated to representing self-insured employers, insurance carriers, and third-party administrators in all matters related to workers’ compensation. Fish Nelson & Holden is a member of the National Workers’ Compensation Defense Network. If you have any questions about this article or Alabama workers’ compensation in general, please contact Fish by e-mailing him at mfish@fishnelson.com or by calling him directly at 205-332-1448.