ROANOKE, Virginia – A federal judge has said a coal company owned by Gov. Jim Justice and his family is in contempt of court because it hasn’t paid more than $500,000.
In a February 26 ruling, U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Dillon found Southern Coal Corp. in civil contempt for not following a September order to pay $503,985 to BrickStreet Mutual Insurance, which provides workers’ compensation and employer liability insurance. The money was meant maintain collateral for financial obligations.
BrickStreet says Southern Coal has not paid and asked the judge to find the company in contempt. She also granted BrickStreet’s request to fine Southern Coal $2,500 a day until it does comply, and she awarded attorney fees and court costs to BrickStreet as well.
In its appeal of the order, Southern Coal said it was unable to comply with the order because it couldn’t pay. Dillon said the company produced no evidence to support that argument. She said Southern Coal will have seven days to comply before the daily fine takes effect.
In November, Southern admitted it hadn’t paid BrickStreet for claim payments since 2017 and hadn’t paid BrickStreet invoices from May 2019 to June 2020. It also said it isn’t actively mining coal, has no income or open bank accounts and lacks assets that could be liquidated.
Justice and his businesses have seen several legal setbacks in recent weeks.