Gov. Jim Justice tries to halt foreclosure of his West Virginia hotel as he runs for US Senate

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Gov. Jim Justice is in a mad-dash legal fight as he runs for U.S. Senate to keep a historic West Virginia hotel at his luxury resort before it’s auctioned off next week due to unpaid debts.

The Greenbrier hotel’s 400 employees received a letter Monday from an attorney representing health care provider Amalgamated National Health Fund saying they will lose coverage Aug. 27 unless the Republican’s family pays $2.4 million in missing contributions, Peter Bostic of the Workers United Mid-Atlantic Regional Joint Board said Tuesday.

The coverage would end the day the hotel is set to go to auction, which Justice family attorneys have asked a judge to stop. They argue in part the auction would harm the economy and threaten hundreds of jobs.

The Justice family hasn’t made contributions to employees’ health fund in four months, and an additional $1.2 million in contributions will soon be due, according to the letter from Ronald Richman, an attorney with Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, the firm representing the Amalgamated National Health Fund.

The letter also said that some contributions were taken out of employees’ paychecks but never transferred to the health fund, which concerned union officials.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«RELATED COVERAGE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> RELATED COVERAGE </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> West Virginia’s personal income tax to drop by 4% next year, Gov. Justice says </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> West Virginia corrections officers plead guilty to not intervening as