A Dublin bakery claims an insurance company has refused to indemnify it following a fire which it says has cost nearly €4m, the Commercial Court heard.

The fire at Safa Foods Ltd, Cookstown Industrial Estate, Tallaght, occurred on or about November 16 last.

Safa Foods director Abdulrahman Rosdi says in an affidavit that it informed its insurer, Slovenia-based Zavarovalnica Sava Insurance Co Ltd, the next day. It called on the insurer to confirm it would indemnify it for losses of more than €3.9m.

Mr Rosdi says it failed to confirm it would and “instead prevaricated” through its agent IMS Support Ltd.

On May 4 last, through the agent, it purported to decline cover for the fire, he says.

The payment of the monies pursuant to the policy is “essential to the restoration of normal operations”, he says.

It is also highly damaging to the business and imperative that there be an expeditious determination of the matter, he says.

Paul McGarry SC, for Safa, told Mr Justice David Barniville there was consent between the parties to enter the matter into the fast-track commercial list.

The judge approved directions on how the case should proceed and adjourned it to December.