A French insurance company said it would challenge a court ruling ordering it to pay nearly half a million euros to five hotels for losses incurred during the coronavirus lockdown, AFP reported.

It is the latest volley in a growing battle between insurers and policy holders brought to their knees by global business closures to halt the Covid-19 pandemic.

A commercial court in Paris had ordered insurer Albingia to pay five hotels a provisional $514,2000 pending a detailed calculation, which the judges commissioned, of their losses over a two-month period.

The court found the hotels' claims for lost income was indeed covered by the insurance policies they held with Albingia. The company told AFP in a statement that it disagreed with the court's interpretation of the insurance contract, arguing that the policies do not cover hotel closures decreed by the government.