Justice’s Finances Face Scrutiny as West Virginia Republicans’ “Battle Royale” Senate Primary Escalates

Charleston Gazette-Mail: “As Justice launches his Senate bid, courts and creditors indicate his business empire’s unmet obligations are mounting at an increasingly steep cost.”

Jim Justice is facing a wave of new reporting over his debts, failure to show up to work and financial challenges as the GOP “battle royale” Senate primary continues to escalate in West Virginia.

Reporting details the Justice’s “long history” of failing to meet his “financial and work safety obligations,” including fines for air pollution, public safety violations, unpaid fees and taxes, and millions of dollars in debt. 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT 

• Herald-Dispatch: Justice companies disputing Virginia bank’s attempt to collect debt. Companies owned by the family of Gov. Jim Justice are disputing a Virginia bank’s attempt to collect more than $300 million in unpaid debt. Justice, who recently announced a campaign for the U.S. Senate, and his family’s holdings have an ongoing dispute with Virginia-based Carter Bank & Trust over $300 million in debt, plus attorney fees and court costs, that came due in April, according to court documents.

• Cardinal News: Jim Justice’s family asks for Martinsville bank’s payment demands to be set aside. West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice and his family want legal actions by Martinsville-based Carter Bank & Trust seeking millions of dollars in loan payments to be set aside and instead are asking a judge to schedule the dispute for a trial. Last month, the bank filed confessions of judgment against Justice.

• WV MetroNews: Governor Justice’s companies challenge the way their bank has claimed $300 million in debt. Companies owned by Gov. Jim Justice and his family are challenging how their longtime banker is going about collecting on more than $300 million in debts. The renewed dispute with longtime lender Carter Bank & Trust is one of several concurrent financial flashpoints for the governor’s companies, right as he gears up a high-profile bid for U.S. Senate. This dispute has rekindled while the Justice family businesses are juggling additional financial issues.

• Mountain State Spotlight: West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice runs for Senate amid stacks of unpaid bills. For years, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has been dogged by allegations that his family businesses haven’t paid their debts, including fines for environmental violations at their coal plants. These disputes are likely to resurface in what will be one of the most hotly contested races for control of the U.S. Senate in 2024.
  
  
• Charleston Gazette-Mail: Prescription drug coverage issues linger for Justice coal company retirees, UMWA says. Prescription drug coverage interruptions for retirees of Gov. Jim Justice’s coal companies are a lingering concern for miner advocates, nearly four years into a federal lawsuit over them. Their grievance has gained renewed scrutiny following Justice launching his candidacy for the U.S. Senate last week.
  
  
• Charleston Gazette-Mail: ‘He has no idea what obligation is’: Justice’s debts mount as he launches US Senate run. Pinkey Mullens gave Jim Justice’s coal company his labor. He’ll never give Justice his vote. Mullens, 69, of Wyoming County feels that way after years of interruptions in his prescription drug coverage that Justice’s business empire has been responsible for after Mullens retired from Justice’s Double-Bonus Coal Company in 2007. As Justice launches his Senate bid, courts and creditors indicate his business empire’s unmet obligations are mounting at an increasingly steep cost. “He refuses to do what he’s held liable to do,” Pinkey Mullens said.
  
  
• Gazette-Mail Editorial: Justice could make it to Senate, but should he? Of course, work hasn’t always been top of mind for the two-term governor, who has remained immersed in his private business interests (often in court over unpaid fees, fines or taxes), continued coaching high school basketball and is only in the capital city a couple of days each week.
  
  
• Cardinal News: Jim Justice’s family businesses in legal dispute with Martinsville bank over millions in loans. Companies owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice and his family say they are involved in a “significant lending dispute” with Martinsville-based Carter Bank & Trust. …The bank filed 11 confessions of judgment seeking the principal and interest on 11 loans to the Justice companies. This is not the first time the Justice family and Carter Bank & Trust have clashed over their loans.
  
  
• WV Metro News: Justice’s longtime banker files claims on $300 million, and his family company pushes back. Gov. Jim Justice’s longtime bank has filed almost a dozen claims to collect on more than $300 million in total debt, and the Justice family companies are firing back publicly. Simultaneously, the Justice family businesses are juggling additional financial issues. Separately, Justice’s wages as governor are being garnished over $850,000 in outstanding debt.
  
  
• Associated Press: Panel affirms fines against coal mines owned by WVa governor. A federal appeals panel has affirmed $2.5 million in penalties against Appalachian coal mines owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice over claims they violated a settlement meant to prevent pollution. The Justice Department said in a later filing that the defendants have “a long history” of Clean Water Act violations and noncompliance.
  
  
• Charleston Gazette-Mail: Fourth Circuit rules Justice coal companies can’t get out of paying $2.5M in penalties for environmental violations. A federal court has ruled that two of Gov. Jim Justice’s coal companies can’t get out of paying more than $2.5 million in environmental penalties. Justice’s coal companies have a long history of not meeting financial and work safety obligations.
  
  
• West Virginia Record: Bank files to have governor’s wages garnished to pay lawsuit judgment. A bank has filed paperwork to garnish the wages of Gov. Jim Justice to finish paying an $850,000 judgment in a civil lawsuit. Justice personally guaranteed all obligations of Bluestone. The complaint says the borrower defaulted on its obligations and accuses the defendants of breach of contract.
  

See also: ICYMI: West Virginia Republicans’ “Battle Royale” Senate Primary Escalates & Justice Faces Scrutiny Over Debt.

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