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Jim Justice sued … again
May 28, 2015 by Ken Ward Jr.
In this July 2, 2010 file photo released by The Greenbrier Resort, The Greenbrier Resort owner and chairman Jim Justice attends the gala opening of The Greenbrier Casino Club, in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini for The Greenbrier Resort, File)
Last evening, The Associated Press picked up on a new lawsuit filed against billionaire coal operator/businessman/gubernatorial candidate Jim Justice:
A lawsuit says two of billionaire Jim Justice’s affiliated companies owe $2 million from a 2013 coal deal.
In Tuesday’s complaint in Beckley federal court, Pennsylvania resident Thomas K. Lampert sued Tams Management, Inc. in Beckley and Southern Coal Corporation, a Delaware company doing business in Roanoke, Virginia.
The lawsuit says the companies didn’t pay $2 million from a March 2013 agreement for equity and membership interests in Newgate Development of Beckley, LLC.
It says Lampert’s trust never received the agreed-upon $4 per ton for the first 500,000 tons of coal mined and sold.
The AP report was short, and didn’t contain these interesting details from the suit:
One such specified act or omission is any failure to comply with the “Purchaser Permit Approval Obligation,” whereby Tams was required to pursue and secure
approval, within ninety (90) days, of the transfer of all applicable permits for the Three Marie Mine located in the Slab Fork District of Raleigh County, West Virginia.
Tams further agreed that “time shall be of the essence” with respect to the Purchaser Permit Approval Obligation, and that any failure to meet the Purchaser Permit Approval Obligation “shall be a material event of default.”
As best I can tell, the best the West Virginia Democrats can come up with as a response as Justice’s business record faces some scrutiny is this, as reported by the National Journal:
Justice’s campaign manager Derek Scarbro told National Journal, “We fully expect partisan gamesmanship to take advantage of anything that they can and grasp at straws,” but defended Justice by saying, “With all the various businesses he owns and operates, when you have that amount, he’s probably dealt with 1,000 contractors over the years. You’re going to have disputes with some of them.”
Here’s a copy of the lawsuit: