Tag: Investment

Federal Court Orders Justice-Owned Companies To Pay $8.5 Million

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia has enforced a state court decision last year to award Western Surety more than $8.5 million, plus interest.

A federal court has placed liens on several companies owned by Gov. Jim Justice to satisfy a previous state court-ordered judgment.

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia has enforced a state court decision last year to award Western Surety more than $8.5 million, plus interest.

The federal court placed charging orders, or liens, on Justice Coal of Kentucky, Justice Coal of West Virginia, Justice Management Services, Chestnut Land Holdings, Dublin Land, Twin Fir Estates and Justice Family Farms.

The judgment in favor of Western Surety was issued by the Circuit Court for Fairfax County, Virginia, in September. The award comes with post-judgment interest of 6 percent per annum.

In a separate case in the Western District of Virginia, Western Surety seeks another $3 million from Justice, Bluestone Resources and Southern Coal, alleging breach of contract.

Justice, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, faces numerous legal challenges.

Another bond provider, Federal Insurance Co., sued Justice and four of his companies in June in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, seeking $8.1 million in damages.

Last month, a $1.2 million helicopter was seized from Bluestone Resources to partially satisfy a debt owed to a Caribbean investment firm.

In February, 1st Source Bank, of South Bend, Indiana, sued Bluestone in the Virginia court, charging breach of contract and seeking $4.5 million in damages.

The complaint accuses Bluestone of defaulting on loan agreements and also seeks attorney’s fees and possession of collateral.

According to the complaint, that collateral consists of “equipment owned by Bluestone Coal” and three properties that are part of the Wintergreen Ski Resort near Charlottesville, Virginia.

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.

Toyota Investing $374 Million at 5 Existing US Factories

Toyota Motor Corp. announced a $374 million investment Tuesday at five U.S. plants to support production of its first American-made hybrid powertrain.

The upgrades at Toyota’s factories in Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee and West Virginia are part of a previously announced $10 billion in U.S. spending by the Japanese automaker. It “underscores Toyota’s confidence in the capability and global competitiveness of our North American manufacturing,” Jeff Moore, Toyota North America’s senior vice president of manufacturing, said in a statement.

Toyota said 2.5-liter engines made in Kentucky and transmissions produced in West Virginia will be used in North American-made hybrid vehicles, such as the Highlander SUV manufactured in Princeton, Indiana.

Toyota will create 50 jobs at its Huntsville, Alabama, plant, which will build engines for its cost-saving New Global Architecture production strategy to share common parts and components among different vehicles. None of the other upgrades announced Tuesday will result in immediate net job gains.

The investment includes $106 million at the Huntsville plant, a $121 million expansion of a 2.5-liter engine capacity at Toyota’s Georgetown, Kentucky, plant, and $115 million to add hybrid vehicle transmission production in Buffalo, West Virginia.

Toyota also is investing $17 million to increase production of 2.5-liter cylinder heads at its Bodine Aluminum facility in Troy, Missouri. A $14.5 million upgrade at a Bodine plant in Jackson, Tennessee, will accommodate production of hybrid transmission cases and housings and 2.5-liter engine blocks.

“This investment is part of our long-term commitment to build more vehicles and components in the markets in which we sell them,” said Toyota Motor North America CEO Jim Lentz.

Qatar Looking to Invest in W.Va., Starts with $50k for Reconnecting McDowell

A country that has already invested more than $12 billion in the United States sent its ambassador to West Virginia Friday looking for possible future investments in the Mountain State.

Qatar Ambassador to the U.S. Mohammed Al-Kuwari was invited and escorted on the visit by Sen. Joe Manchin, making stops at the Advanced Technical Center at BridgeValley Community and Technical College, Dow Chemical, and meeting with Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin.

Al-Kuwari said his country has already made a commitment to invest more than $35 billion in the U.S. over the next several years in the energy sector as well as in technology, real estate, tourism and education, and Sen. Manchin wants at least some of those dollars to come to West Virginia.

It’s not solely about financial investment, though, according to Manchin. The Senator said the economies of the two states, so to speak, are very similarly, both heavily invested in the engery sector.

What Qatar has done though, Manchin said, is moved beyond just extraction, bringing manufacturing in to product value-added products from the natural resources they extract. That includes building ethane cracker plants, an industry investment West Virginia has been searching for for years.

Manchin hopes the country will invest in West Virginia, but also form a partnership with the state, helping to guide its economy.

“We’re not looking just for someone to write a check,” he said during a press conference at the Capitol. “We’re looking for someone to come into this marketplace and understand the value of the market and understand realistically what type of an investment it takes, the risks that are involved and the rewards that can come from it.”

An investment team from Qatar travels to the U.S. twice a year, and has for the past fifteen years Al-Kuwari estimated. The next planned trop is for September and Manchin said he’ll work with West Virginia to ensure the state has a specific proposal for those investors to look at.

In the meantime, Al-Kuwari has invited the Senator, Gov. Tomblin and members of West Virginia’s business sector to travel to Qatar to meet some of these potential investors and tour the country.

Al-Kuwari also announced Friday the country has donated $50,000 to Reconnecting McDowell, a partnership between the state Department of Education, private businesses, unions and education organizations focused on bringing higher quality education to McDowell County.

Sen. Manchin’s wife, state Board of Education President Gayle Manchin, heads that initiative.

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