Gym owner fighting for insurance nearly four years after 2022 floods

Seymour gym owner fighting for insurance nearly four years after October 2022 floods Sat 1 Aug 2026 at 7:30am In short Adam Griffiths is the only business owner in his street whose insurer has not paid out a storm claim from October 2022. Experts disagree over whether stormwater caused the damage to his central Victorian gym before the river flood arrived. What's next? Mr Griffiths hopes to reopen his complaint with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. Nearly four years after parts of Victoria were devastated by the 2022 floods, a small business in central Victoria is still locked in a battle with its insurer. Adam and Alex Griffiths' gym was one of six businesses on the same street in Seymour without flood cover. They were all initially rejected for storm cover, but five had the decision overturned by their insurers, who accepted that stormwater inundated the businesses before the river flood arrived. Only the Griffiths' insurer, Hollard, has maintained its denial. "All I needed to do was partner with some other insurer, and I would have been covered," Mr Griffiths said. "It's very disappointing that the company can sit there and watch the damage and devastation — it's my livelihood and my staff's livelihood — and they can just say no." Record rainfall As rain fell in the morning of October 13, 2022, fitness classes were running as normal in the gym. But Mr Griffiths said there were signs of what was coming as water filled the street and crept up his car park. "I ended up calling the police and closing the street down, after that all we could do was pretty much sandbag,"he said. Mr Griffiths said stormwater inundated the gym in the afternoon, damaging the floors and equipment, well before floodwaters arrived. The Goulburn River at Seymour peaked in the early hours of the next morning at 8.26 metres, marking the town's worst flood in more than 100 years. Hollard declined an interview with the ABC, but a spokesperson said the company engaged an expert hydrologist to review all the information supplied by Mr Griffiths, "with the findings supporting the original claim decision". "We will continue to work with the customer and their representative should they wish to provide any additional information or seek further review from AFCA," the spokesperson said. To rebuild the gym without the help of insurance, Mr Griffiths worked a second job in sales. 'Ridiculous' situation Courtney Carroll owns the Stihl Shop two doors down and said the street was "like a lake" at about 10am on October 13. "[The water] was in our business around 5pm to 6pm and then the flood didn't come through until later that night or early the next morning," she said. Her stormwater inundation claim for the business was originally denied, but later overturned. "We're all 45 Wallis Street. How do [units] 1, 2, 3 and 5 get an inundation claim and not 4?" she said. "We're not denying we were flooded, but we were definitely inundated with water from the gutters … which we proved." Another neighbouring business owner, Shaun McCormick, said the situation facing Mr Griffiths was "ridiculous". "It should've been dealt with years ago, and more should've been done to help him," he said. Experts disagree Seymour-based insurance consultant TR Keller has acted on behalf of the six businesses. He said one of the issues highlighted in the federal inquiry into insurers' responses to 2022 major floods was the reliance of insurers on expert reports without interrogating the evidence themselves. "We had overwhelmingly additional and compelling evidence to show that it is stormwater, " he said. "But yet [Hollard's] expert is … sticking to their guns and saying it's all floodwater. And the insurer says, 'that's what our expert says, we can't do anything about it.'" The Australian Financial Complaints Authority upheld Hollard's refusal last year. It found there was insufficient evidence to establish stormwater alone was capable of causing damage to the property. Mr Griffiths hopes the evidence of a third hydrologist supporting his claim will be enough to reopen the complaint and overturn the decision. "It starts to become almost energy-sapping to always hear no, especially when you feel like you're in the right," he said. "We'll do whatever we can."