Residency Case Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

As Justice Fights For Coaching Job, There’s A Renewed Legal Threat Over His Residency

A former West Virginia lawmaker who sued Gov. Jim Justice over where the governor lives says he’s once again filing legal action.

The revival of the residency dispute comes after a court case was dismissed earlier this year — and as Justice continues to fight for a high school basketball coaching position.

Isaac Sponaugle, a Pendleton County attorney and former member of the House of Delegates, notified Justice this week of his intent to sue over a constitutional mandate that the governor live in Charleston.

Article 7, Section 1 of the West Virginia Constitution states that the Governor and the state’s five other executive branch officers “shall reside” at the seat of government while in office.

In a letter sent to Justice dated Wednesday, Sponaugle said the governor isn’t abiding by an agreement stemming from earlier legal proceedings.

Sponaugle initially filed suit in 2018, alleging that Justice was in violation of the residency mandate.

After years of legal wranglings — that one time landed in the hands of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals — Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Daniel P. O’Hanlon dismissed the case in March 2021, after Sponaugle and attorneys for Justice agreed that the governor would reside in Charleston.

“Jim Justice hasn’t lived up to his word that he would reside at the seat of government,” Sponaugle said in a news release. “It’s his choice on how this will proceed, but he will reside at the seat of government, either voluntarily or involuntarily, as long as he remains governor of the state of West Virginia.”

Justice responded to the legal threat through a statement released his attorneys, Michael W. Carey and Steven R. Ruby, who called Sponaugle’s efforts distracting.

“We were disappointed to see Mr. Sponaugle grasping for media attention by trying to revive this pointless case, which he already took $65,000 in state money for settling once,” they said. “It’s simply out of touch with the objective facts of Gov. Justice’s accomplishments, which exceed those of any administration in memory… If Mr. Sponaugle is looking for a boost in his next political race, it’s unfortunate that this is how he’s decided to pursue it, because West Virginians know better.”

At least tangentially related to Sponaugle’s renewed legal threat is Justice’s recent activities in Greenbrier County. While he already coaches the Greenbrier East High School girls basketball team, Justice has been fighting to get the coaching job for the boys’ team.

Last month, the Greenbrier County Board of Education voted 3-2 to reject the governor’s application for the second coaching gig.

Supporters of the governor have spoken to the board in favor of him having the job, but players on the basketball team have said they want a coach fully dedicated to the position.

Justice has filed a public employee grievance in the matter. The Greenbrier County board is set to discuss the grievance during a special meeting set for Friday afternoon.

Upon first learning of being rejected for the position, Justice hinted at pursuing legal action through a grievance.

“From the standpoint of where we move forward and how we do things within our state, these are the very reasons that our employees across our state have laws,” Justice said at the end of an August 24 virtual briefing on the pandemic. “These are the very, very reasons. There could never be a more shining example. There’s no way.”

Sponaugle made note Thursday of Justice’s coaching ambitions as he threatened renewed legal action in the residency case.

“Jim Justice needs to decide what he wants to do with his time.He’s a part-time Governor, part-time businessman, and part-time basketball coach,” Sponaule said. “The only thing that he’s doing full-time is residing in Greenbrier County. That’s going to end, and he will abide by the Constitution whether he likes it or not.”

Gov. Justice Agrees To Live In Charleston, Residency Case Dismissed By Kanawha Co. Circuit Court

Updated Monday, March 1, 2021 at 5:40 p.m.

Gov. Jim Justice has agreed to abide by the state constitution and reside in Charleston during his second term in office. That decision follows a years-long battle in the courts that wound up in the hands of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals and, ultimately, the dismissal of the case from a circuit court.

Kanawha County Circuit Court Judge Daniel P. O’Hanlon issued an order Monday dismissing the case against Justice.

According to the dismissal order — which is effective Monday — Justice “has represented that he intends to ‘reside’ in Charleston consistent with the definition of ‘reside’ in the Supreme Court opinion.” The dismissal order does not, however, specify how frequently the governor will stay in Charleston to comply with the constitution.

Article 7, Section 1 of the West Virginia Constitution states: the governor and the five other constitutional officers “shall reside at the seat of government during their terms of office.”

Justice, a Republican, had long defended not living in Charleston and instead has — to date — kept his home in Lewisburg in Greenbrier County.

Isaac Sponaugle — an attorney from Pendleton County — brought the case against the governor in June 2018 while serving as a Democrat in the West Virginia House of Delegates.

The case made its way to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals for oral arguments in October 2020. The justices mulled over whether to dismiss the case sent to them by a Kanawha County Circuit Court or let the case continue to proceed in the lower court.

A month later, the Supreme Court offered a 36-page opinion that said the lower court’s decision should stand and that the case should continue.

The state’s high court also defined “reside” — at least in this case — as “to live, primarily, at the seat of government; and requires that the executive official’s principal place of physical presence is the seat of government for the duration of his or her term of office.”

On Monday, Spoaugle applauded Justice for agreeing to abide by that definition.

By signing the order, Sponaugle said that he is satisfied with the governor complying with O’Hanlon’s decision.

“I believe in the Constitution, I believe in our rules and checks and balances in government. But those checks, and those constitutions are only effective if you try to enforce them — and that’s what I did,” Sponaugle told West Virginia Public Broadcasting by phone Monday.

Sponaugle said he believes the resolution to the case will come at the “betterment” of residents of the state.

“Sometimes, if you want things done against power, you’ve got to be able to fight for it and enforce it,” Spoaugle said, “which is what I did, and now it’s in compliance.”

According to the order, the court awarded Sponaugle $65,000 in fees and costs associated with the case.

An attorney representing Justice in the case referred requests for comment to a spokesman for the governor.

That spokesman, Jordan Damron, said Justice is “pleased” that the case has been resolved.

“The Governor will, of course, abide by the recent ruling by the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, and he and Mr. Sponaugle agree that the case is now moot,” Damron said.

Justice Residency Case on Pause While Judge Considers Most Recent Motions

It appears that a now more-than-one-year-old case to determine where West Virginia’s governor constitutionally must reside will continue, after a hearing on the matter Wednesday morning.

Kanawha County Circuit Judge Charles King told Gov. Jim Justice’s attorneys he will need more time to consider a pair of motions they filed in late July, halting the discovery process for the time being.

One motion asks King to explain why he shot down the lawyers’ request in July to dismiss the entire case, which Delegate Isaac Sponaugle filed last year.

Their second motion asks King to certify a list of questions the lawyers have for the state’s Supreme Court of Appeals, mostly relating to how they legally define the term “reside” and what their definition requires of Justice.

Sponaugle, a democrat in Pendleton County, filed the first of three lawsuits on the case last summer. He specifically asked for a “writ of mandamus” that would force Justice to meet the Constitution’s residency requirement.

During Wednesday’s hearing, more than a year later, he told King he opposed the attorney’s questions, calling them a “waste of time” and a “way to drag (the case) out.”

“The same arguments that were being presented back then are being presented now,” Sponaugle said. The delegate also says Justice’s legal team failed to adequately respond to a request for discovery he submitted last month. The attorneys had until August 15 to respond.

One of Justices’ attorneys, George Terwilliger, said on Wednesday the Supreme Court of Appeals’ response is necessary to address whether state leaders can legally force Justice to live at the designated governor’s mansion in Charleston at 1716 Kanawha Boulevard. Justice lives in Lewisburg, Greenbrier County.

Terwilliger said after Wednesday’s hearing that the residency requirement is more about where Justice spends his time working than it is about where he “lays his head at night.”

“It’s really about doing his business here, when he needs to do his business here,” Terwilliger said. “You don’t have to have a trial to figure out that this governor has been doing a lot of business for the people of West Virginia, both here in Charleston and elsewhere.”

According to Sponaugle, the governor’s refusal to live primarily in Charleston is indicative of what Sponaugle called his “refusal to work.”

Justice has come under fire often during his first term in office, most recently facing allegations of conflicts of interest.

In partnership with ProPublica, the Charleston Gazette-Mail last week published a more-than-6,000-word report on Justice’s businesses, and how they stand to benefit from the regulatory agencies he leads as governor.

The News-Sentinel published a report in July about a bill Justice signed that month, following the last special session, that will financially benefit a company his own organization is in a court battle with.

According to Sponaugle, the question of residency is a similarly significant controversy, simply because Justice’s alleged failure to comply with the law trickles into his other alleged violations of the law.

“It starts there and floods down from there, onto various issues,” Sponaugle said.

King has yet to decide what he’ll do with the motions Justice’s lawyers have filed.

Emily Allen is a Report for America corps member.

Gov. Justice Argues Meaning of 'Reside' is Unclear in Residency Case

Lawyers for the governor of West Virginia have told the state Supreme Court the meaning of the word “reside” is unclear in a case regarding his residency outside of Charleston.

The Beckley Register-Herald reports Gov. Jim Justice’s lawyers argued before the court Tuesday in response to a petition filed by Democratic Del. Isaac Sponaugle. Sponaugle asked the court to order Justice to live in Charleston per the state’s Constitution, which requires the governor to “reside at the seat of government.”

Justice lives in Lewisburg. The case was dismissed on a technicality. Justice’s lawyers say the Constitution doesn’t define the word “reside.” They say that if the Legislature or voters are upset with Justice’s residency, they can “impeach him or vote him out of office.”