CHARLESTON – On the same day Gov. Jim Justice said his family and its companies “will always meet our obligations and do what’s right,” a federal judge ordered some of those companies to make more than $400,000 in payments that had been missed.
The missed payments were part of an agreement with federal officials in a case that dates back to 2014, two years before Justice was elected governor. On June 21, District Judge Michael Urbanski of the Western District of Virginia, entered an order requiring 23 Justice companies to pay.
The federal government filed a complaint in 2019 to collect the unpaid mine safety fines that approached $5 million.
Last month, the feds filed a similar lawsuit against Justice companies again for more unpaid mine safety fines, this time more than $5 million.
During a news briefing June 21, Justice said there is too much attention being paid to companies’ financial issues despite him being governor and running for the U.S. Senate.
“I’ve said many, many times, judge me for what I’m doing as your governor,” Justice said. “Absolutely leave my family’s business to my son and daughter. Let them do their job. And at the end of the day see where it comes out. …
“If you want to, write it down and put it in a box. When you go back in a couple of weeks, I bet you and I promise you with my family’s businesses you’re going to say ‘dag, we got all this worked out, everything is fine and dandy – what in the world were we doing?’
Justice’s son Jay Justice is overseeing the family’s coal entities, while daughter Jill Justice is running The Greenbrier Resort.
In a 2020 settlement agreement on the first case, the Justice companies agreed to pay more than $5 million in total fines. The companies were supposed to make monthly payments of just more than $100,000 until the debt was satisfied.
But “defendants have consistently made their monthly payments late,” according to a fililing earlier this spring, saying payments were missed entirely for January, February, March, April and May.
“If defendants are allowed to ignore their obligations, it undermines the authority of this court and removes the incentive of these defendants — and their mining companies — from complying with MSHA’s health and safety standards designed to protect the nation’s miners,” the filing states.
Urbanski’s latest order says the defendants must pay $409,768 in delinquent payments within 10 days. He also ordered the companies to make future payments until the debt is gone.
During his Wednesday press briefing, Justice blamed it all on politics.
“People know that since you’re a public official they can enter suit against you in whatever the case may be,” he said. “It’s easy to catch a lot of arrows because you’re a public official.”