HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) Testimony has begun in federal court in Connecticut in a trial over whether an insurance company was wrong to refuse to reimburse the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford more than $1 million for payments church officials made to settle sexual misconduct cases involving priests and minors.

The case is one of many around the country in which insurance companies have balked at paying claims related to lawsuits over priest sex abuse.

The Hartford archdiocese is suing Interstate Fire and Casualty. The archdiocese alleges the insurer breached its contract by refusing to cover payments church officials made in four abuse cases after the company reimbursed them previously in other abuse settlements.

Testimony began yesterday in federal court in New Haven.

A lawyer and a spokeswoman for the Chicago-based insurance company declined to comment.