DOVER, Del. (AP) - A federal judge in Delaware has rejected a last-minute request by attorneys representing West Virginia Gov. James Justice and two of his family-owned coal companies to postpone a lawsuit accusing them of breaching a contract with a Pennsylvania coal exporter.
Attorneys for the Justice companies asked the judge Monday to delay a virtual non-jury trial scheduled to start next week. The judge had ruled earlier that the trial would be held remotely, with no witnesses or attorneys in the courtroom, because of concerns about COVID-19.
But defense attorneys argued that it was important for witnesses to testify live in the courtroom, and the trial should be postponed indefinitely until a time that it can be done safely.
Chief District Judge Leonard Stark denied the request in a ruling Tuesday, saying the defendants were continuing to raise “vague and conclusory assertions” that due process rights require the trial to be held in person. He said the trial, already postponed twice, will begin as scheduled next Tuesday.
The lawsuit was filed in 2018 by Latrobe, Pennsylvania-based Xcoal Energy & Resources. The company claimed Justice and two of his companies, Roanoke, Virginia-based Bluestone Energy Sales Corp. and Southern Coal Corp., failed to meet their obligations under a 2017 agreement to deliver hundreds of thousands of tons of coal for shipment overseas.
The defendants contend Xcoal breached the agreement in several ways, including unreasonably rejecting shipments of coal and making unreasonable shipment demands that exceeded Bluestone’s capabilities.
The Justice companies also argue that Xcoal has a history of being sued by other companies in the coal industry for failing to pay for or deliver shipments, then trying to blame the other party.
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