A federal judge has ordered West Virginia Governor Jim Justice (R) to hand over information in a lawsuit from a coal supply company.
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. Xcoal is seeking $2 million from Justice, according to reports from The Hill.
Earlier this month, Justice filed a motion stating 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 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.
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.
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.
Justice is also facing a civil lawsuit from President Biden's Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding his family's coal mining business.
Earlier this month, the DOJ named Justice along with 13 coal companies owned or operated by the Justice family for allegedly owing more than $5 million in combined penalties and fees for more than 130 environmental and health violations related to coal mining.
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Why??
Joe B want’s to keep Joe M in the democrat controlled senate.