Feds look to hold 23 Justice coal companies in contempt for nonpayment of health, safety fines

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice attends the groundbreaking for the new industry exhibit at the state Capitol Complex in Charleston, W.Va. on July 31, 2024. (Office of the Gov. Jim Justice | Courtesy photo)

Yet another blow could be coming for West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s family business empire as attorneys for the federal government are asking a court to hold 23 of the family’s coal companies in contempt for unpaid fines dating back a decade.

The motion was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia on Tuesday and was first reported by West Virginia MetroNews’ Brad McElhinny.

It comes as Justice, a Republican and the patriarch of the family’s vast business conglomeration, is running a campaign as the favored candidate for the Senate seat currently held by Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.Va.

According to the filing and an accompanying memorandum , the Justice family companies still owe nearly $600,000 in unpaid coal mining health and safety fines, violating a settlement agreemen t made in 2020 that said the entire debt — totaling about $5.13 million — would be paid off by March 1, 2024.

Attorneys for the federal government called the businesses’ continued failure to pay their debts despite numerous reminders a “blatant violation” of the terms previously agreed to.

“The only thing consistent about (the Justice companies’) payments is the fact they are consistently late,” the federal attorneys wrote.

According to the court filings, the 23 coal companies at the center of the motion racked up “hundreds” of citations and orders for violations of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act as well as standards set by the Mine Safety and Health Administration since 2014.

In 2019, the government filed suit against the Justice companies to collect more than $4 million in past due fines over the previous five years. In 2020, representatives for the Justice companies and the federal government entered into a settlement. The companies agreed to pay what was already due as well as an additional $1.06 million for 85 MSHA citations accrued since the initial suit was filed.

Aaron Houchens, the Virginia-based attorney representing the Justice companies in the litigation, said in an emailed statement that the Justice family paid “significant” amounts as a result of the settlement.

“There remains a balance owed but the organizations are committed to paying that debt in full,” Houchens continued. “We will be opposing the government’s motion and look forward to resolving the matter shortly.”

Per the terms of the agreement, the Justice companies were to pay about $213,000 in April 2020, then make monthly installments of $102,422 until the debt was fully paid off in March 2024. Repeatedly in that time the companies failed to make timely payments and, eventually, stopped paying the full monthly sum due at all much less the past-due amounts.

Last June, following months of nonpayment, the court ordered that the Justice companies pay what they owed in 10 days and stay current on future debts. Following that motion, according to the memorandum, attorneys for the companies told the federal government that they “lacked the financial means” to comply with the court’s order but would “obtain the financial ability” to do so.

That doesn’t appear to have ever happened.

In dozens of emails attached to the filed memorandum from Aug. 14, 2023 to July 9, 2024, a legal assistant reminded the companies’ legal representation of the debts, often multiple times and for weeks after they were initially due.

In one email from Nov. 15, 2023, she told Houchens that no payment had been received since Oct. 5, 2023. The total amount due at that time was about $359,000 from three past due arrears payments as well as the monthly installments from October and November.

The next day, Houchens replied: “[The companies] are getting a shipment payment around 11/22,” the email read. “They can make a payment at that time.”

According to a ledger attached to the memorandum, the companies made one payment of $55,221, half of the due monthly payment, on Nov. 21, 2023. No payments were made in December 2023. In January and February of 2024, the companies also only paid half of a monthly installment.

In April, the companies dropped down to paying a quarter of the monthly payment. No payments were made between April and July, when the companies wired just $10,000 out of the more than $589,000 that was still owed.

“[The companies] appear to believe they are above the law,” attorneys for the federal government wrote in their memorandum. “… Numerous court orders have been entered requiring [the companies] to comply with the settlement agreement. Yet time and again, they have not done so.”

The lack of payment, according to the attorneys, has yielded real harm as the unpaid health and safety citations are meant as a means to compel mine operators to work within the scope of the law.

“[The companies’] continual evasion of their financial obligations under the Mine Act removes the incentive of these Defendants — and other mining companies — from complying with MSHA’s health and safety standards designed to protect the nations’ miners,” the memorandum reads.

Problems continue to rise for Justice family businesses

The motion to hold 23 of Justice’s family companies in contempt comes less than a week after a legal advertisement was placed in Lewisburg’s West Virginia Daily News announcing that the Greenbrier Hotel, one of the family’s largest assets, would be put up for public auction later this month. The foreclosure, according to the advertisement, was due to the Greenbrier Hotel Corp. defaulting and not making good on loans.

The auction is scheduled to take place at 2 p.m. on Aug. 27 in front of the Greenbrier County Courthouse. The property being auctioned totals 60.5 acres and is not the entirety of The Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. It excludes several amenities, including golf courses and other pieces of land.

In a statement, attorneys for Justice and his family said — as the governor has claimed repeatedly for years when issues mount for his businesses — that the foreclosure was a political move orchestrated by Democrats. Justice attorney Bob Wolford said in a statement that the resort will not be sold and that the company will take “all necessary action” to ensure no adverse impact on their ownership of the Greenbrier or the Greenbrier’s operations.

It wouldn’t be the first time that a Justice-owned property was slated for auction but didn’t end up being sold.

In 2023, Carter Bank & Trust attempted to collect on a $300 million debt from loans made out to the family companies. According to MetroNews, a legal advertisement was placed in newspapers announcing an auction of the Greenbrier Sporting Club (another Justice asset) to satisfy the debt. The Justices filed suit and the auction was put on hiatus .

Those incidents are just a handful of the dozens of examples of lawsuits, liens and more that have come against Justice properties in the last decade due to unpaid taxes, bills and fines.

Meanwhile, Justice’s political career has been largely untouched by his business failings. Justice lost his billionaire status in 2021 when $850 million in outstanding loans for his companies came to light.

And despite the clear hardships hitting his companies, the governor continues to refer to himself as a businessman over a politician. He regularly alludes to his business acumen when appealing to voters and has used the background as a “can-do businessman” while campaigning for the U.S. Senate.

While he is quick to take ownership of his companies’ successes when they occur, he consistently distances himself from them when problems arise. He instead insists that his children are at the helm of the business empire while he keeps his distance.

The governor has never opted to put all of his companies in a blind trust while serving in public office. In May, he said that would “probably” remain the case if he’s elected to the Senate.

When asked about his companies’ documented troubles, Justice prefers to lambaste the media instead of answering questions.

Justice usually holds weekly, digital administration briefings where some press are authorized to ask often pre-screened questions of the governor. Last week’s briefing occurred a day before the Greenbrier Hotel auction was first reported by MetroNews.

As of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, no briefing had been announced by the administration for this week and no live broadcasts were scheduled on the governor’s YouTube page .

This story was originally produced by West Virginia Watch which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network, including the Daily Montanan, supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.