Judge orders Gov. Jim Justice to provide financial information in lawsuit

A federal judge has ordered West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) to provide financial information in a lawsuit from a coal supply company trying to get him to pay a nearly $2 million judgment. 

U.S. District Judge Leonard Stark ruled Wednesday that Justice must provide written responses to questions and provide all requested documents to the company Xcoal by July 5. 

Justice argued in a filing from earlier this month that the information he provides could be at risk of being leaked or hacked for political purposes as he is a current candidate for office. He filed to run for the Republican nomination for Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) seat in April. 

He acknowledged that a protective order had been issued to keep the information disclosed in the case from being made public, but he argued it was made in 2018 and not designed to protect personal financial information for a Senate candidate “in the lead up to one of the most politically charged elections in our nation’s history.” 

Justice requested that the discovery phase for his personal financial information be delayed until discovery for two of his companies — Bluestone Energy Sales Corporation and Southern Coal Corporation — was completed and a determination could be made as to whether Justice’s personal information was needed. 

But Stark, who presides in the District of Delaware, said in his ruling that Justice’s objections to providing the information lack merit and he has not provided evidence that the protective order would be insufficient to protect his personal information. 

Justice also proposed an alternative method in which certain conditions would be set for his information to be turned over, such as only letting three designated attorneys and two designated support staff view the information. 

Stark said “no good cause” exists to modify the protective order in the “burdensome” terms that Justice lays out. 

The Hill has reached out to an attorney for Justice for comment. 

The case arose from a 2018 suit that Xcoal filed against Justice and the two companies over an agreement to deliver 720,000 net tons of coal for shipment overseas, West Virginia MetroNews reported.

Xcoal won the case but has only received $8.1 million of the $10 million it is owed. The coal supplier has been trying to get the remaining $1.9 million to be turned over. 

Stark said Justice is ignoring “the most obvious solution” to his concerns about providing the financial information of paying Xcoal the remaining amount. 

He also backed Xcoal’s argument that Justice is not immune to discovery requests because he is a candidate for office.