Legal action brought by four pubs against FBD Insurance over the interpretation of its business interruption insurance cover began in the Commercial Court on Tuesday and is expected to last several weeks.

FBD believes its policies do not cover loss of business due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The four pubs, Dublin-based Aberken trading as Sinnotts Bar, Hyper Trust Ltd trading as The Leopardstown Inn, Inn on Hibernian Way Ltd trading as Lemon & Duke, and Athlone-based Leinster Overview Concepts Ltd trading as Sean’s Bar, dispute this interpretation.

Senior Counsel for the Dublin bars, Michael Cush, told Justice Denis McDonald that 1,100 publications have policies identical to those at question in the case.

The outcome, therefore, will be determinate for those businesses also.