Dublin pubs win cover for early-closing losses from FBD

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Three Dublin pubs were entitled to insurance cover for losses caused by early closing rules, the High Court ruled on 28 January 2022. The court found the rules imposed a government closure from 10 August 2020.

Mr Justice Denis McDonald’s ruling concerned Aberken, trading as Sinnott’s Bar; Hyper Trust Ltd, trading as The Leopardstown Inn; and Inn on Hibernian Way Ltd, trading as Lemon & Duke. He also found their bar counters had been subject to government-imposed closure during relevant periods. The pubs were entitled to indemnification for resulting losses in relevant periods between June and September 2020 and in December 2020.

A fourth pub, Sean’s Bar in Athlone, was entitled to indemnification for closures from 15 March to 7 October 2020 and subsequently to June 2021. The judge partly upheld staff wage and salary claims by Sean’s Bar, Sinnott’s Bar and Lemon & Duke. On the evidence, he could not find that any part of The Leopardstown Inn’s claim on that issue should succeed; he asked the parties to discuss whether agreement could be reached on staff necessarily retained on its payroll.

The court outlined a method for assessing bar-counter losses that reflected the pubs’ individual circumstances. The claims of Sinnott’s Bar and The Leopardstown Inn were to be reduced to a certain extent as provided for in the judgment. FBD could not pursue an underinsurance issue or reverse its admission that Sean’s Bar was subject to two indemnity periods; the latter finding applied only to Sean’s Bar.

The amount of compensation remained to be determined. The judge urged the parties to try to resolve outstanding issues, and the matter was returned for mention on 17 February 2022.