A bankruptcy judge held off on ruling on a dispute between Blackjewel LLC and the U.S. Labor Department over whether the West Virginia company can sell its coal before paying laid-off miners for their work, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Judge Frank Volk told lawyers for the company and the government at a hearing on Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Charleston, W.Va., that he will hold an evidentiary hearing in the next two weeks before ruling on the dispute. A group of laid-off coal miners has been protesting for the past month on train tracks near Cumberland, Ky., blocking a shipment of coal from going out until they receive their back wages. Lawyers for the Labor Department argued in court Friday that since the miners haven’t yet been paid the approximately $4 million of wages they are owed, the coal is considered “hot goods,” and it would be a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act for it to be transported or transferred to a buyer. Blackjewel’s lawyers told the court that the company entered into an agreement before the bankruptcy filing to sell the coal. The buyer already paid 75 percent of the payment, and wants to pay the remaining 25 percent, amounting to $1.4 million, to take delivery of the goods. The Blackjewel lawyers argued that the remaining $1.4 million could be placed into an escrow account until the matter is adjudicated.
