I have written about this issue many times because it keeps happening. The Standard Flood Insurance Policy has a one-year suit limitation. A partial denial of a flood claim starts that one-year clock. Supplemental claims, continued adjustment, additional documentation, and later denial letters do not usually restart it.
This is exactly what happened in Rotondo v. Wright National Flood Insurance Company. 1 The policyholder suffered a Hurricane Helene flood loss. Wright sent a partial denial letter on January 17, 2025, denying payment for the upper kitchen cabinets. Attached to that letter was FEMA’s Policyholder Rights document, which warned that suit had to be filed in federal court “within one year of when your insurer first denied all or part of your claim.”
The policyholder later retained counsel in September 2025 before the one-year limitation period expired. A supplemental claim was submitted for tile flooring, and Wright denied that portion in December 2025. The lawsuit was not filed until March 10, 2026. Judge William Jung dismissed the case with prejudice, ruling the partial denial on January 17, 2025, started the one-year clock. The later supplemental claim and later denial did not toll, waive, extend, or restart the deadline.
The court’s language was brutally stated: “the math is simple and unforgiving.” In flood insurance litigation, the math often is simple. The consequences are what become unforgiving.
I say this with some tongue in cheek and some younger-lawyer-in-church seriousness: counsel was hired before the statute of limitations expired. This should not have been missed. A lawyer taking on an NFIP flood claim has to read the denial letter, read the FEMA attachment, calendar the deadline, and then file suit before the year runs. Better yet, she should have been reading this blog. I have warned about this trap often because it is one of the easiest ways to destroy an otherwise legitimate flood claim.
Gilbert F. White, the father of floodplain management, famously wrote, “Floods are ‘acts of God,’ but flood losses are largely acts of man.” The same can sometimes be said about lost flood insurance claims. The flood may be an act of nature. Missing the suit limitation deadline is not.
Public adjusters, restoration contractors, and policyholder attorneys should treat every NFIP partial denial letter as a litigation deadline notice. Do not assume that because the carrier keeps talking, keeps adjusting, or later denies another item, the courthouse deadline has moved. It has not.
The lesson in an NFIP claim is that when the carrier first denies all or part of the claim, calendar one year and file the lawsuit before that date.
Thought For The Day
“Floods are ‘acts of God,’ but flood losses are largely acts of man.”
Gilbert F. White
1 Rotondo v. Wright National Flood Ins. Co., No. 8:26-cv-00618, 2026 WL 1579887 (M.D. Fla. June 3, 2026). See, Insurer Motion to Dismiss, Policyholder Response, and Policyholder Affidavit.