When The Walls Tumble Down

MENTONE - The rumbling Mitch and Pam Hunsberger heard in the early morning hours of July 21 was more than just the peel of thunder.

There was plenty of that accompanying the strong thunderstorm that rolled through Kosciusko County that night. But this rumbling was emanating from below, as the rear wall of their basement collapsed beneath them.

The initial fear quickly subsided as their five kids were rounded up and taken to the safety of Cheryl Phillips' home - Pam's mother. But the fear was soon replaced by frustration and a feeling of abandonment when they found out the damage wasn't covered under their homeowners policy.

"I thought we had the best coverage available, but the insurance company said we only had the second best policy and that ours didn't cover collapse," Pam said.

As if to add insult to injury, the basement of the home in which they lived was improperly constructed - the basement walls were not reinforced with steel rebar footings - a fact that they didn't discover until the collapsed basement was inspected by a engineer hired by Farm Bureau Insurance.

According to Farm Bureau spokeswoman Teresa Koopman, while her company does carry the homeowners policy on the Hunsbergers' home, Farm Bureau's hands are tied in covering the wall's collapse because the basement foundation and wall weren't built according to proper standards.

"Our engineer found problems with the foundation and wall reinforcement, and the house wasn't tied down to the basement either," Koopman said. "Because of that, the wall collapsed under the pressure of the water outside the wall. The only thing covered by the Hunsbergers' policy is the damage caused by the sewage backup and the loss of possessions."

The Farm Bureau adjuster said the house is uninhabitable, Koopman said.

"It's really unfortunate, but they (the Hunsbergers) just got into a bad situation," she said.

Koopman added that the problem with the Hunsbergers' home is actually a building code violation and would need to be enforced by the governing jurisdiction. In Kosciusko County, that would be the state of Indiana because the county has no building codes to enforce and conducts no inspections.

"The county does not have an inspection program. We tell people to build according to the building code established by the state, and it is the state who has the responsibility to enforce those codes," said Dan Richard, director of the Kosciusko County planning department.

So now the Hunsbergers are in a bit of a bind. While they have safe housing - they are renting a home from Pam's grandfather - they have a house in need of extensive repairs for which they still owe a mortgage, and they have rental expenses. All this on top of the normal expenses of raising five children - two of their own and Pam's three half siblings that they adopted after her father died two years ago.

Even retaining an attorney wasn't much help for them, Pam said. The insurance company remained steadfast in their refusal to cover the damage repairs. Fortunately, the attorney did refund a major portion of the $500 retainer they had given him.

"The lawyer tried so hard for us, but there was really nothing that he could do," Pam said. "But he did give us back $400 of the $500 retainer we paid him."

Pam's mother, Cheryl Phillips of Mentone, said the Hunsbergers are having a difficult time coping with the situation.

"They're pretty devastated. The insurance isn't going to do anything, and they can't go back on the builder, because he has filed bankruptcy," Phillips said.

The Hunsbergers initially stayed with her after the collapse, leading to quite a full house, Phillips said. Not only did the seven Hunsbergers stay there for four days, but Pam's brother, who is serving in the Navy, and his family were in the midst of a transfer from Hawaii to South Bend.

Pam said the family is really at a loss of what to do now and is not sure where to turn.

"We had the home inspected when we bought it, but the problem with the basement couldn't be seen," she said. "Now, we don't know where to turn.

""It's frustrating, because we've worked so hard to pay our bills. We took out a home equity loan to pay the lawyers for the adoptions after my dad died, and we were keeping up with them - just barely, but we were," Pam said. "Now we've lost just about everything and are having to start over."

The Hunsbergers haven't given up hope, however.

"But we're going to get through this. We all got out safely and the Lord made sure we had a place," Pam said. "I just hope there aren't many others out there who will find themselves in the same situation because someone didn't build their basement the way they should."