ELKINS – A bank has filed paperwork to garnish the wages of Gov. Jim Justice to finish paying an $850,000 judgment in a civil lawsuit.
Citizens Bank of West Virginia filed the Suggestee Execution (Garnishment of Salary and Wages) March 21 in Randolph Circuit Court against Justice, who is listed as the debtor. The bank filed the case Justice and Bluestone Resources Inc., a coal company he owns.
According to an accompanying affidavit, a money judgment of $850,434.28 was awarded October 18, 2022, in the case against Justice. The judgment was filed November 10.
It says the unpaid principal is $847,264.75, and the unpaid interest as of March 14 is $13,793.60. With a $27 fee to file suggestee execution, that totals $861,085.35.
The Suggestee Execution orders the state auditor’s office to withhold Justice’s wages either 20 percent of his wages after deductions or the amount of his wages after deductions that for each week exceeds 50 times the federal minimum hourly wage, whichever is less.
The document does not say how much would be withheld from Justice’s wages for each pay period. As governor, Justice makes $150,000 annually. In October 2021, Forbes estimated his net worth at $513.3 million. Before that, he was on Forbes’ list of world billionaires.
“Withholding shall continue until one year from the date of issuance of this suggestee execution, unless the above judgment, interest and costs are sooner satisfied or this suggestee execution is sooner released,” the document states.
According to the original complaint, Citizens Bank loaned Bluestone $2,371,764 to purchase six large pieces of machinery in April 2018. It made a second loan for $278,014 to purchase more equipment. Justice personally guaranteed all obligations of Bluestone. The complaint says the borrower defaulted on its obligations and accuses the defendants of breach of contract.
The governor’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
The bank was represented by Richard Gottlieb and Matthew Kingery of Lewis Gianola in Charleston.
Randolph Circuit Court case number 21-C-82