The Gazette-Mail’s Mike Tony reported this week that BrickStreet Mutual Insurance Company has asked a federal court to fine one of Gov. Jim Justice’s coal companies $2,500 a day for failing to comply with a court order to pay a $1.5 -million debt.
Just a few days earlier, the newspaper reported that a workers’ compensation insurance provider had sued another Justice family company — Bluestone Resources — alleging $1.75 million owed in unpaid premiums.
Another day, another court filing to try to force one of Justice’s many companies to pay its bills. The stories have been so common over the years that they hardly register anymore. After all, by definition, “news” is what’s new.
But there is a pattern, and a cumulative effect.
The Justice family has dozens of companies with interests in coal, timber, farming and tourism, including the famed Greenbrier Resort. As his Senate campaign spokesman Roman Stauffer has said, “Gov. Justice has created thousands of jobs and saved businesses, like the Greenbrier Resort, and kept companies open during tough economic times.”
That is true, but it is only part of the story.
A few years ago, Forbes Magazine listed Justice’s estimated wealth at $1.7 billion, but he has since fallen off the billionaire list. Brad McElhinny reported recently that a federally mandated financial disclosure for his Senate run revealed “a mountain of assets — with many indicating they produce little or no income and also a riptide of debt.”
McElhinny’s story went on to report that in a federal court filing in another financial dispute, Justice’s lawyers noted that depositions by company representatives, “painted a consistent portrait of a somewhat disorganized organization whose resources are stretched to the limit with respect to both finances and personnel. The cash that comes in is almost immediately transferred from those entities that have it to those that need it.”
That’s the very definition of cash poor.
Justice never put his companies in a trust when he was elected governor, although he has turned over day-to-day operations to his children, Jay and Jill. Still, I suspect he is generally aware of the family business finances and is involved in any big decisions.
WOWK-TV reporter Mark Curtis asked Justice during a recent press briefing about one of the lawsuits and the governor defended the decision to try to keep failing companies open and operating.
“When every coal company in the land was taking the easy way out, I wouldn’t do it,” he said. “We could have taken bankruptcy at that time with some bad companies that were having a tough time and stiffed a bunch of banks and vendors and cleared the balance sheet and went on. But I wouldn’t do that.”
OK, but when bills aren’t paid and creditors must fight tooth and nail in court to try to get their money, that is just like stiffing them.
Bankruptcy is an undesirable, but legitimate, mechanism to deal with overwhelming debt. According to the United States Courts website, “A chapter 11 debtor usually proposes a plan of reorganization to keep its businesses alive and pay creditors over time.”
Quite possibly Justice, who ran for office promoting his business acumen — “I done done it,” he liked to say — does not want the embarrassment of bankruptcy, especially while he is running for higher office.
But his companies’ continued failure to meet their financial obligations leaves creditors in limbo and voters legitimately wondering if Justice’s business skills are as unassailable as he claims.
