CHARLESTON, W.Va.
(AP) — A federal judge in Kentucky has ordered companies owned by West
Virginia Gov. Jim Justice to pay more than $1 million in fees and
expenses in a lawsuit that accused them of defaulting on a mining
contract.
U.S.
District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove denied a motion by the James C.
Justice Cos. Inc. and subsidiary Kentucky Fuel Corp. to reconsider the
case and to conduct oral arguments. Van Tatenhove in September ordered
the companies to pay $35 million to the New London Tobacco Market and
Five Mile Energy.
Nearly all of the fees and expenses will be paid to the law firms for the plaintiffs and the rest will go to the plaintiffs, according to Van Tatenhove’s order Friday.
In
addition, the judge ordered the Justice companies to pay $10,000 as
sanctions to the plaintiffs within 30 days. The judge linked the
sanctions to Lexington, Kentucky, attorney Richard Getty and his firm,
which began representing the Justice companies in August 2018.
Tatenhove also told the defendants “not to present misleading and frivolous arguments to the Court in the future.”
The
2012 lawsuit accused the Justice companies of failing to pay mining
royalty payments and retainer fees. Van Tatenhove said in his order that
the lengthy case had already involved a three-day evidentiary hearing
on damages alone.
“Defendants
apparently equate ‘due process’ with success on the merits. Nothing is
fair unless decided in their favor,” the judge wrote. “Defendants began
this litigation with the same opportunities for discovery and
presentation of evidence as any other litigant, but they have squandered
these opportunities with poor strategic decisions and contumacious,
combative conduct.”
Getty
sought to reconsider the September order under a “rule 59” motion, but
Tatenhove said such motions can only be granted if there was a clear
error of law, newly discovered evidence, a change in controlling law or
to prevent injustice.
The judge said the rule “is not an opportunity to re-argue a case.”
“Defendant’s
persistence on this point calls to mind the mythological Hydra — it
feels as though every time the Court addresses this argument in one
motion, it appears again in two others.”
Justice
has a net worth of more than $1 billion. Earlier this month, federal
prosecutors said Justice’s coal companies agreed to pay more than $5
million for thousands of mine safety violations.
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Source: Mountain Top