Full coverage: FBD

The key takeaways of the 214 page judgment are that the pubs are due payouts for business interruption cover and that these will be assessed in light of normal trading conditions rather than the losses sustained in the earliest days of the pandemic.

Tomorrow, the Commercial Court will deliver a landmark decision on FBD Insurance's handling of business interruption claims during the pandemic. Legal Editor Francesca Comyn reports on how the recent FCA UK ruling may prove to be the ace up the publicans' sleeve.

For the past three weeks, four pubs have taken on FBD Insurance in a High Court test case of enormous consequence. They are challenging the insurer's refusal to pay out on claims arising from the pandemic. Millions of euro, and livelihoods, are at stake.

The owner of the landmark Leopardstown Inn, one of four pubs taking a test case against FBD, tells the court that things have got "much tougher" since the Covid-19 lockdown last March.

The test case of four publicans challenging the insurer's refusal to pay business interruption losses hears pandemic cover would be "highly unusual" for a mainstream insurer like FBD.

As the battle with publicans over disputed Covid cover escalates, court documents detail inside exchanges between senior personnel at the embattled Irish insurer.

Cookhouse 360, located in Dungarvan's culinary quarter in Co Waterford, is taking legal action against FBD over business interruption cover. This is the story of one company's battle against FBD, which its owner says represents an existential threat to his business.

It emerged in the course of the discovery proceedings in the escalating battle between pubs and FBD that a fire broke out in 2015 at FBD’s storage facility destroying archival hard copy records.

Publican Chris Kelly is claiming losses of €3m on one pub alone. The owners of the Lep Inn say that FBD told them they were covered, only to later renege. Both argue that the Irish insurer has changed its defence multiple times.

The insurer has sought to reassure investors as its battle with a small army of publicans intensifies. It is also seeking to draw focus to government, saying the only way insurers could fund pandemic cover would involve a state pooling arrangement.