Court Orders Justice Family Coal Companies to Pay $1M to Liberty Mutual Unit
A federal judge has ordered coal companies owned by the family of U.S. Sen. Jim Justice to cough up more than $1 million in unpaid workers’ compensation premiums owed to a Liberty Mutual company—five years after an audit showed the employers had underpaid premiums.
Justice, the former governor of West Virginia and a longtime coal mine company owner and operator, and his family controlled eight companies in Virginia and West Virginia that sought coverage with LM Insurance Corp. through West Virginia’s assigned risk workers’ compensation plan, court filings show.
In 2021, LM canceled one set of policies due to nonpayment of premiums for what it collectively termed the Bluestone companies. An audit determined that the firms still owed almost $1.8 million in premiums, the LM complaint explained.
The employers paid $50,000 in early 2022. LM then asked the federal court in western Virginia for partial summary judgment, mandating that the Justice-family companies pay the remaining premiums owed. The Bluestone defendant companies did not oppose the motion. The judge, Michael Urbanski, agreed last week.
“Accordingly, it is ordered that judgment be entered for plaintiff LM Insurance Corporation in the amount of $1,023,732.88, jointly and severally against defendants Bluestone Resources, Inc., Ranger Fuel Coal Corporation, Blackstone Energy Ltd., Bluestone Coke, LLC, Southeast Cotton, Inc., Bluestone Industries, Inc., Justice Energy Company, Inc., and Kentucky Fuel Corporation,” the judge wrote.
The breach of contract by the coal companies came at a time of falling workers’ compensation costs for West Virginia and most other states. In 2024, while governor, Justice touted the 20th straight year of workers’ comp rate decreases, as recommended by the National Council on Compensation Insurance. Rate decreases were seen in the voluntary and assigned risk markets.
In 2022, West Virginia was ranked second-lowest in the country in workers’ compensation costs, according to a survey by the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services.
Last week’s court order is the latest for the Justice companies, which local news reports have called “troubled” as U.S. coal consumption dropped in recent years. In 2024, Justice’s Southern Coal Corp. settled a lawsuit brought by another workers’ comp carrier, BrickStreet Mutual Insurance. The federal court ordered the coal firm to pay more than $500,000 to BrickStreet, the successor to West Virginia’s state-run comp insurer. BrickStreet argued that the coal company failed to pay anything into a loss fund, and failed to reimburse the insurer for claims and expenses, per its contractual obligations.
Photo: Then-Gov. Justice at his 2023 State of the State address. (AP Photo/Chris Jackson, File)