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Federal attorneys have been going after the Justice companies in court for their failure to pay off that debt, something the companies agreed to do in 2020 for delinquent fines spanning 2014 to 2019. The $409,041 is the sum left unpaid on the $5.13 million debt the companies agreed to pay in 2020.

Prosecutors asked a federal judge to hold the Justice firms in civil contempt for their failure to pay. The companies contended they didn’t pay because they couldn’t. But Thursday’s agreement required them to pay the federal government $125,000 last Thursday and the remaining debt of $284,014 by May 1. The parties agreed to hold off on the feds’ contempt request until after May 1.

Senior District Judge Michael Urbanski granted the federal government the right to refile its civil contempt motion if the Justice companies fail to meet their obligations by May 1 in the District Court for the Western District of Virginia Friday.

Lawyer: Bankruptcy regrouping ‘long overdue’

Urbanski issued a protective order in the case Feb. 25 after the Justice coal firms sought an order to let them designate tax returns and other financial or business information as confidential in litigation.

The companies proposed the protective order after a Jan. 16 hearing in which their attorney asserted that they had no ability to pay the mine safety fine debt.

The Salem, Virginia-based attorney, Aaron Houchens, told the court bankruptcy organization was “long overdue� for the companies.

Houchens cited a “political connection� to the case at the hearing, alluding to Justice’s Senate seat, which he won in November after two terms as West Virginia’s governor.

“I’m not going to even think about that, OK?� Urbanski responded at the hearing. “I’m just not, and it’s not relevant. But what we have here is a number of corporations, regardless of who owns them, we have a number of corporations who made an agreement with the United States to pay these fines over time, and they owe the money.�

Prosecutors asked the court to find the companies in civil contempt in August, contending that the firms knowingly failed to comply with their payment obligations under the 2020 agreement and a 2023 order from the Virginia court to comply with that agreement.

The 2023 order required the companies pay over $409,000 in delinquent payments within 10 days after they failed to make required monthly payments from February through June of that year.

In a July 2023 status report citing “financial difficulties� among the companies filed with the court, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, the companies agreed to make weekly payments of $51,221 for 10 weeks to pay its past-due balance.

But, in August 2024, prosecutors asked the court to find the Justice companies in civil contempt, saying they still owed $579,041, five months after the debt was due in full, despite government reminders about their tardy and missing payments. Prosecutors said the companies were making an “attempt to escape� from their financial obligations.

Lengthy record of Justice mine safety violations

Delinquent federal mine safety fines for mines controlled by the senator and his adult children, James C. “Jay� Justice III and Jillean Justice, comprised over 13% of total debt nationwide in August 2024, according to a Gazette-Mail analysis of Mine Safety and Health Administration data.

Justice coal companies’ mine safety violations have grown as their collective debt has lingered.

The Mine Health and Safety Administration, on Jan. 16, announced that it issued 19 citations in December following an “impact inspection� at the Jay Justice-controlled Tams No. 1 Surface Mine in Raleigh County.

MSHA reserves impact inspections for mines deemed in greater need of enforcement oversight due to poor compliance history, accidents or injuries.

Of the 19 citations issued for the Tams No. 1 Surface Mine, five were categorized as “Significant and Substantial,� a designation MSHA uses for hazards reasonably likely to result in serious injury.

MSHA issued 20 federal safety and health violations responding to another Justice family mine impact inspection in July 2024. The agency found miners were exposed to a wide range of serious hazards at the Jay Justice-controlled Frontier Coal Co.’s Belcher Branch Mine in Wyoming County.

Justice family’s legal, financial woes pile up

The Justice companies’ mine safety fine debts — consistently among the nation’s highest such totals — have contributed to hundreds of millions of dollars in debt and other legal liabilities mounting across the senator’s personal and business finances.

Justice’s companies have allowed intermittent lapses in prescription drug coverage that have endangered the health of retirees and their dependents in recent years.

Virginia-based Carter Bank scheduled an auction of Greenbrier Sporting Club property last year to help satisfy a nine-figure Justice family debt to the bank.

The auction was later canceled, and the Justice family and the bank announced the settlement of the dispute, in which the bank has sought $300 million-plus in debt admitted by the Justices.

Carter Bank reported in a January news release that interest income lost from overdue loans owed by entities in which Justice has an interest grew $7.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2024 to amount to $65.1 million since the Justice portfolio was put on nonaccrual status during the second quarter of 2023. Nonaccrual status refers to loans no longer generating interest because of nonpayment.

Last month, a federal judge ordered two Justice coal companies to pay nearly $650,000 in attorney fees and expenses plus interest dating back to a 2020 judgment against them. The judge also fined Jay Justice and another Justice coal company executive $1,000 per day for not complying with an order to share financial information, plus another nearly $200,000 in attorney fees and expenses.

Also last month, a surety bond provider told a New York federal court that Jim Justice and four of his coal firms owe more than $8.4 million to cover a bond payment and other fees and expenses.