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That complaint goes on to say that The Greenbrier Hotel, along with the entire resort property, employs almost 2,000 people. A “fire sale� of the hotel “would be the end of The Greenbrier resort as it is known.�

A hearing in this matter has been set for 9 a.m. Friday before Greenbrier Circuit Court Judge Robert E. Richardson.

According to the filing in Greenbrier County Circuit Court, the motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction was filed by the Greenbrier Hotel Corp., James C. Justice III and Jillean L. Justice, the latter of which are the children of Gov. Jim Justice.

The injunction can be read at .

Why it matters

The Justice family-controlled Greenbrier Hotel is on the auction block due to a loan default, according to a trustee’s sale notice published last month by the Lewisburg-based West Virginia Daily News. The advertisement reported that there has been a default under the terms and conditions of a deed of trust that took effect in 2014, executed by the Justice family-controlled Greenbrier Hotel Corp. The trust deed listed Gov. Justice as the borrower of a $142 million promissory note dated March 2014, with New York-based JPMorgan Chase Bank listed as the beneficiary.

According to another court filing, JPMorgan Chase Bank assigned the Maryland company, McCormick 101 LLC, all its right, title and interest in the loan on July 2.

In this week’s filing on behalf of GHC and the Justice family, the defendants who are named include McCormick 101, LLC and J. Patrick Jones, who was reportedly named by McCormick as the substitute trustee.

From the filing

Plaintiffs are seeking a declaration from the court that:

• The notice is invalid and of no effect, such that defendants may not sell the property pursuant to the notice;
• The underlying Deed of Trust is void and unenforceable;
• No trustee sale may be conducted pursuant to the Deed of Trust because McCormick is in breach of its obligations under the loan agreement as novated.

Filing: Prevent sale ‘for pennies on the dollar’

The preliminary injunction filing claims the Notice of Trustee’s Sale was “facially defective� and failed to identify all three parties as required by law.

The filing alleges the Deed of Trust was granted without the necessary authority by JPMorgan Chase which did not obtain the consent of the GHC board of directors or owners, which was needed to authorize the Deed of Trust to secure the loan to then president, James C. Justice, II.

According to the filing, JPMC “assured� GHC it would not foreclose on the Deed of Trust, so long as GHC satisfied certain conditions, designed to ensure the loan was ultimately repaid. The two parties reportedly entered into an “enforceable novation� of their agreement, where both those parties “assumed specific obligations.� The filing noted “GHC� has done so.� Novation is a legal term denoting the substitution of a new contract in place of a previous one.

The filing goes on to state, in part, McCormick acquired from JPMC all the “benefits and obligations of the parties’ agreement and of the novation.� With the foreclosure, McCormick has breached the obligation that it assumed as the assignee, the filing claims.

The filing further states the court should prevent the sale of the property by the defendants “for pennies on the dollar in a hastily scheduled auction on the courthouse steps until Plaintiffs’ claims in the preceding can be adjudicated.�

Potential fallout

The request for preliminary injunction also details the community’s “economic well-being� in relation to The Greenbrier.

It states The Greenbrier Hotel and its affiliated entities are “the lifeblood of Greenbrier County’s economy, directly employing nearly 2,000 people and indirectly supporting hundreds or thousands of additional jobs.�

During a media briefing from earlier this month, Justice said the loan in question was paid down to approximately $9.4 million and “totally unbeknownst to us, they sold the loan.�

The governor then said the situation is “politically driven, 100%. This is all about Jim Justice running for the Senate. This is all about Jim Justice being the one that flips the United States Senate. This is what this is all about. It’s about trying to twist Jim Justice or hurt Jim Justice from a political standpoint.�

Sunday’s complaint mentions Justice’s U.S. Senate candidacy. The complaint can be read at .

The complaint reads, in part, “On May 14, 2024, however, Justice II became the Republican nominee for one of West Virginia’s United States Senate seats. The Senate seat for which he was nominated is regarded as the one most likely to change parties from Democrat to Republican. Less than seven weeks after his nomination, and after 14 years of doing business with Justice II, JPMC, with no notice or warning, sold Justice II’s loan to McCormick, which JPMC knew or should have known was a cutthroat debt collector that likely would launch an immediate legal attack on Justice II.�

The complaint also notes the governor’s son, James, owns 30% of the Justice Family Group LLC, which is the parent company of GHC. The governor’s daughter Jillean is identified as having 21% ownership of JFG.

This story was first reported by West Virginia MetroNews.