September 1, 2021 - James C. Justice III and Jillean L. Justice announced late Tuesday that the Justice group of companies has successfully concluded a number of matters relating to Carter Bank and Trust, one of the companies’ longtime financing partners.

CB&T will dismiss the legal actions that it filed against James Justice II, the current governor of West Virginia and his wife, Cathy Justice, in the Martinsville, Virginia, Circuit Court, and the Justice companies will dismiss their federal action against CB&T and its directors in the Southern District of West Virginia, according to a release from Steve Ruby with the law firm Carey, Douglass, Kessler and Ruby PLLC.

The Justice companies will resume “the companies’ previous business relationship with CB&T,” which “will allow them to maximize performance in the current favorable markets in mining, hospitality and agriculture.”

“We are pleased to move past our disagreements with CB&T, and we look forward to a continued productive relationship with the bank moving forward,” said James C. Justice III, president of the Justice mining and agriculture businesses. “This resolution clears the way for our businesses and our people to focus on what they do best: Producing world-class coal and running world-class farms. Today’s strong coal and agriculture markets present an extraordinary opportunity, and we are now in an even better position to respond to it.”

“Our relationships with our business partners are important to us, and we welcome the resumption of our productive relationship with CB&T,” said Jillean Justice, president of The Greenbrier. “In a record-breaking year for The Greenbrier, today’s resolution helps ensure continued strength.”

The Justice companies are a privately held group of mining, hospitality and agriculture interests operating in West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, the Carolinas and Alabama, including Bluestone Industries Inc., The Greenbrier and Justice Farms of North Carolina Inc.

Since Bluestone’s founding by James C. Justice in 1971, the group has grown to include more than 100 companies employing more than 2,500 men and women.