Tag: Federal Court

Appeals Court Again Rejects Suit Against Mountain Valley Pipeline

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled Tuesday that the Virginia landowners cannot sue developers of the Mountain Valley Pipeline for taking their land through eminent domain.

 A federal appeals court has again rejected a bid by Virginia landowners to challenge the construction of a natural gas pipeline.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled Tuesday that the Virginia landowners cannot sue developers of the Mountain Valley Pipeline for taking their land through eminent domain.

The same court had earlier rejected the landowners’ case, but the U.S. Supreme Court sent it back for further review.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a siting certificate to the pipeline’s builders in 2017. It enabled them to use eminent domain to acquire property for the 303-mile pipeline.

The $7.2 billion project is over its original budget and past its scheduled completion. When finished in the coming months, it will transport as much as two billion cubic feet of gas a day.

Justice Creditors Agree To Sale Of Coal Company’s Helicopter

Caroleng Investments, a Caribbean company, and First Source Bank, of South Bend, Indiana, have submitted a joint proposal to sell a helicopter owned by Bluestone Resources.

Two of Gov. Jim Justice’s creditors have agreed to sell a helicopter to help settle a debt.

Caroleng Investments, a Caribbean company, and First Source Bank, of South Bend, Indiana, have submitted a joint proposal to sell a helicopter owned by Bluestone Resources.

Bluestone, which is one of Justice’s numerous companies, did not participate in the agreement, filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia.

Bluestone owes Caroleng about $10 million and sought the helicopter as a partial repayment.

Bluestone and First Source tried unsuccessfully to convince a federal judge to stay an order for U.S. Marshals to seize the helicopter on Caroleng’s behalf.

The agreement directs Bluestone to surrender the 2009 Bell helicopter to a third party, Heli-X, of Colleyville, Texas, within 72 hours of the court’s issuance of an initial sale order.

A judge will have to approve the agreement.

Justice Hears From 2016 Rival In Lawsuit Against Carter Bank

Booth Goodwin, the former federal prosecutor and a Democrat who lost to Justice in the 2016 primary for governor, represents Carter.

The attorney defending a Virginia bank that was sued by Gov. Jim Justice is a familiar foe of the governor.

Last month, Justice sued one of his biggest creditors, Carter Bank, in federal court, seeking $1 billion in damages.

Carter’s attorney this week filed a motion to dismiss the case. That attorney is Booth Goodwin, the former federal prosecutor and a Democrat who lost to Justice in the 2016 primary for governor.

In the motion, Goodwin accuses Justice of engaging in a pattern of defaulting on his loans and filing frivolous lawsuits against his creditor. Goodwin calls Justice’s claim of economic duress “laughable” and refers to the governor as “a one-time billionaire.”

Goodwin says Justice owes Carter hundreds of millions of dollars and the bank has worked “repeatedly and cooperatively” to restructure and extend the loans over the years.

Justice, his wife, Cathy, his son, Jay, and the Greenbrier Hotel are among the plaintiffs in the suit.

Justice filed a similar lawsuit against Carter Bank in 2021 but later dropped it.

Justice beat Goodwin in the 2016 primary and was elected governor as a Democrat, but switched parties the following year. He was re-elected in 2020 as a Republican and is now a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate.

Goodwin, a former U.S. Attorney, prosecuted coal executive Don Blankenship. Blankenship was the former CEO of Massey Energy. An explosion at Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine in 2010 killed 29 workers.

In 2015, a jury found Blankenship guilty of conspiracy to violate federal mine safety and health laws. He was sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to pay a $250,000 fine. Blankenship has tried, unsuccessfully, to appeal his conviction.

Goodwin returned to private practice in Charleston in 2016.

Federal Judge Blocks Seizure Of Justice Coal Company Helicopter

Judge James P. Jones of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, granted a stay on Thursday sought by the coal company, Bluestone Resources, and 1st Source Bank of South Bend, Indiana, one of Bluestone’s creditors.

A federal judge in Virginia has blocked the seizure of a helicopter from a coal company owned by Gov. Jim Justice. 

Judge James P. Jones of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia granted a stay on Thursday sought by the coal company, Bluestone Resources, and 1st Source Bank of South Bend, Indiana, one of Bluestone’s creditors.

Another Bluestone creditor, Caroleng Investments of the British Virgin Islands, had sought to take possession of the helicopter to settle part of a $13 million debt owed by Bluestone.

Last week, the court ordered the U.S. Marshals to seize the helicopter, which has an estimated value of $1.2 million, according to a Wednesday filing by 1st Source.

The helicopter was housed in Roanoke, Virginia, until late last week, when it was moved to Burlington, North Carolina, according to publicly available flight data.

Caroleng accused Bluestone of hiding the helicopter to avoid paying what it owes.

Bluestone said 1st Source was first in line to get paid in the event the helicopter was sold.

Caroleng said Bluestone couldn’t intervene on behalf of 1st Source, but the bank joined Bluestone’s motion for a stay on Wednesday to protect its interest in the helicopter.

In his order Thursday, Jones froze any transfer of the helicopter or any effort to conceal its location until the court could resolve the dispute.

Jones has scheduled a hearing in the case on Nov. 16 in Abingdon, Virginia.

Indiana Lender Joins Justice Company’s Legal Dispute Over Helicopter

1st Source Bank, of South Bend, Indiana, joined Bluestone Resource’s motion for a stay in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia on Wednesday.

An Indiana bank that loaned money to a coal company owned by Gov. Jim Justice has joined a court case involving another of the company’s creditors and a dispute over a helicopter.

1st Source Bank, of South Bend, Indiana, joined Bluestone Resource’s motion for a stay in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia on Wednesday.

Bluestone and 1st Source want the court to stop the U.S. Marshals from seizing the helicopter on behalf of Caroleng Investments, an offshore company Bluestone owes $13 million.

Caroleng had sought the helicopter through the legal process to partly settle the debt.

In its filing, 1st Source estimates the value of the 2012 Bell helicopter at $1.2 million. Previous filings had indicated the helicopter was built in 2009.

1st Source identifies itself as “a lender with a perfected, first-priority security interest in the personal property” of Bluestone, meaning the helicopter.

Caroleng’s attorneys tracked the aircraft, which had been housed in Roanoke, Virginia, to Burlington, North Carolina. On Tuesday, the company asked the court to order Bluestone to turn over the aircraft to the U.S. Marshals, subject to contempt of court.

1st Source and Bluestone entered a loan agreement in 2018 for $1.5 million, the bank’s court filing says.

In 2021, Bluestone secured $10 million in financing from 1st Source, using the helicopter as part of the collateral. As of Oct. 15, Bluestone owes 1st Source about $5 million, the court filing says.

“By virtue of its security interest in the helicopter,” the filing says, “1st Source has a property interest in the helicopter that may be harmed by the execution of the writ.”

In an earlier court filing, Bluestone identified Caroleng, based in the British Virgin Islands, as a shell company controlled by Russian mining and metals oligarch Igor Zyuzin.

Caroleng disputed that description, identifying itself as a “special purpose investment vehicle.”

Justice Coal Company Moved Helicopter Despite Court Order, Creditor Claims

Caroleng Investments, based in the British Virgin Islands, said Bluestone Resources owes it $13 million and accused it of moving the helicopter last week from Roanoke, Virginia, to Burlington, North Carolina, to avoid paying.

A helicopter belonging to a coal company owned by Gov. Jim Justice has been moved from Virginia to North Carolina, a company that’s seeking the helicopter to settle a debt said in a court filing Tuesday.

Caroleng Investments, based in the British Virgin Islands, said Bluestone Resources owes it $13 million and accused the company of moving the helicopter last week from Roanoke, Virginia, to Burlington, North Carolina, to avoid paying.

Caroleng said it tracked the helicopter’s movement using the website flightaware.com.

In a filing Friday, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, Bluestone sought a stay of an order for U.S. Marshals to seize the 2009 Bell helicopter. In the filing, Bluestone identified Caroleng as an offshore shell company controlled by Russian mining and metals oligarch Igor Zyuzin. 

In its filing Tuesday, Caroleng attorneys disputed Bluestone’s description of Caroleng as a shell company. Rather, they said, it said was “a special purpose investment vehicle that was created to invest in mining interests in West Virginia.”

The filing said Bluestone has a long list of unpaid creditors and is familiar with shell companies. 

“Public financial filings indicate that they have created dozens, if not hundreds, of such entities, likely to thwart collection efforts by creditors such as Caroleng,” the attorneys said of Bluestone.

The filing goes on to say that a helicopter is “not essential” for a mining company, and that private air travel is “generally considered a luxury.”

“Without a helicopter, surely Bluestone executives can travel using alternatives,” the filing said.

Caroleng’s attorneys challenged Bluestone’s assertion that other creditors would be paid first. Bluestone could not intervene on its creditors’ behalf in the event they had an interest in the helicopter, the attorneys said.

Caroleng said a title search for the helicopter produced a single security interest in the name of 1st Source Bank of South Bend, Indiana. Caroleng’s filing said the bank would have to make an appearance in the proceeding to protect its interest in the helicopter, but had not yet done so.

Caroleng also said the court should order Bluestone to deliver the helicopter to the U.S. Marshals and deny the stay, “subject to being held in contempt of this court.”

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