Janessa's Blog

The previous blog entry you'll find a story that I wrote earlier this semester for my JOUR3121 Intermediate News Reporting and Writing class. There were many different aspects of the reporting and writing that had to be taken into account while working on the story, which I would like to address here.

How I reported the story.
As stated in the previous blog entry, I was assigned to do a story about a civil complaint. I went downtown to the Hennepin County Government Center, searched through a large stack of civil complaints, and picked one that I thought was interesting enough. In addition to reading the complaint multiple times, I began my reporting by calling the plaintiff’s lawyer. After multiple attempts, I unfortunately never heard back from them. The defendant’s lawyer wasn’t listed in the complaint. I tried to get a hold of all of the parties listed as defendants in the complaint, but both roofing and siding companies weren’t listed in the phone book. This was a major frustration. With the encouragement of my professor, I called the family that was named in the suit and luckily got a hold of someone. Although I couldn’t reach everyone that I desired for this story, speaking with the family, who was directly involved with the suit, was a very helpful in my understanding the suit.

Main challenge in writing the story.
The main challenge in writing this story was how to remain fair and unbiased without ever talking to any of the defendants. Besides the public record of the complaint, the only information that I had came directly from the family. To solve this challenge, I ended up having to keep my story very short and to-the-point, based mostly on what was in the civil complaint. In addition to information gained from the family about what was lost in the flood, I used only one quote to illustrate their disappointment with the whole ordeal. Without equal representation from both sides, I kept my story shorter and very focused on the actual facts of the complaint.

Alternative storytelling approaches.
Looking back on how I reported the story, it is obvious that there were many opportunities for additional coverage. For example, I could have taken the time to go visit the house and take pictures or video footage for the story. When I finally got a hold of the family the day before the story was due, the son suggested to me that he could mail me some photographs he had taken of the flood damage. Being that my story was due the next day, I kindly thanked him but let him know that the photos wouldn’t be of any help to me since my deadline was tomorrow. If I had spoken to the family earlier in the week, that definitely would have been a possibility.

Posted by Janessa at 8:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

THE FOLLOWING IS A STORY THAT I WROTE THIS SEMESTER FOR MY JOUR3121 INTERMEDIATE NEWS REPORTING AND WRITING CLASS. For the assignment we had to go downtown, look through a copy of recently-filed civil complaints and pick one that we thought would be interesting enough to write a story about. Here's how mine turned out:

On Feb. 12, 2007, an insurance company of a Golden Valley family filed suit against two Minnesota construction companies for failing to do a good job fixing a roof. The family, however, believes they should sue the insurance company for negligence in dealing with a flood that was caused by the faulty roof repair.

In May of 2004, the suit alleges, Manuel Binder and his son, Kirby Binder, hired Empire Roofing and Siding of Chaska to repair the roof of their home. Casas, Miller and Kobernick, Inc. of Bloomington was hired as a subcontractor.

In February 2005, after the roof had been repaired, the Binder’s home had severe water damage due to a leaking roof.

Kirby Binder said the flood was mainly caused by a plugged center roof drain. He said after the flood there was one to two inches of standing water in the basement of their home.

Some of the carpet and furniture were damaged, and Kirby Binder estimated that he and his father lost thousands of dollars in personal property, including an original, bound edition of Dr. Seuss’s “Cat in the Hat.� The book was given to Manuel Binder when he was a child.

Kirby Binder said that Illinois Farmers Insurance didn’t come to their home to clean and pack things up until a week after the flood occurred. When they did, they put everything that was wet into boxes and threw it all away, he said.

After the Binders submitted a claim for the damaged property, Illinois Farmers Insurance reimbursed them for $72,656.45. Illinois Farmers Insurance is now trying to recover the money from Empire Roofing and Siding and Casas, Miller and Kobernick Inc.

In the suit, which was filed in Hennepin County District Court, Illinois Farmers Insurance asks for damages no less than $73,000.

But Illinois Farmers Insurance was vastly negligent, said Kirby Binder. “They treated our family with disrespect,� he said, “and I can’t imagine anyone wanting to have them as an insurance company.�

The Binders live at1020 Angelo Drive in Golden Valley and hold an insurance policy with Illinois Farmers Insurance, an Illinois-based insurance company that is authorized to do business in the state of Minnesota.

Lawyers for Illinois Farmers Insurance could not be reached for comment.

Posted by Janessa at 8:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)