Your browser doesn't support audio playback.
A federal hearing in three weeks could determine the next step for the historic, but struggling, Greenbrier Resort.
Sen. Jim Justice and his family’s company have owned the resort since 2009 but have faced financial uncertainty regarding their ability to run the property in recent years.
Robert Rowling, the founder of TRT Holdings, the holding company of Omni Hotels and Resorts, recently acquired the Justice family’s debt on the historic resort and filed suit in federal court earlier this month for a neutral third party to take control of the property to protect their investment, known as a receivership. Their filings allege that the Justices have failed to meet their obligations to prior lenders or pay their taxes on The Greenbrier.
“The immediate appointment of a receiver is necessary because it is common knowledge that Defendants are in dire financial straits and that the Justice Party Defendants, who control The Greenbrier Resort, routinely divert the revenue generated by the Greenbrier Resort Collateral to their other affiliated business entities,” the motion to appoint a receiver alleges.
“As a result, the Greenbrier Resort Defendants have failed to pay their real estate taxes for 2025, and a portion of their real estate taxes for 2024, in excess of $3.2 million. Accordingly, a receiver should be appointed without delay so that the value of …The Greenbrier Resort, does not suffer further diminishment and reputational harm.”
The Justices, in turn, argue the debt transfer is incomplete and maintain that they have been up to date on paying back their loans. They filed a lawsuit in Greenbrier County Circuit Court within days of the federal suit, arguing the Rowlings conspired with lenders, “to snatch The Greenbrier resort from the local ownership of the Justice family by unlawful and deceptive means.”
The filings are contentious, with both sides leveling accusations like malfeasance and piracy.
Judge Frank Volk of the United States District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia will hear evidence May 11 on whether to give a neutral third party control of the resort or hold off until another suit in state court is resolved.
In his order Volk criticized both parties, writing he expects, “the filings and conduct of counsel going forward to satisfy the highest professional standards” of the court.