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Judge Slams Firm's 'Symbolic Middle Finger': 3 Tons of Coins

Colorado's JMF Enterprises tried to pay $23.5K subcontractor settlement in dimes, pennies, etc.
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 24, 2023 7:24 AM CDT
Judge Slams Firm's 'Symbolic Middle Finger': 3 Tons of Coins
Stock photo.   (Getty Images/MariuszBlach)

A Colorado welding company that was apparently upset over having to pay a settlement to a subcontractor has been stymied by a judge who called its tactics "in bad faith." CBS Colorado reports that Larimer County Judge Joseph Findley on Monday ordered JMF Enterprises to pay Fired Up Fabrication the $23,500 it owed, and not in the way it originally tried to pay the subcontractor: all in coins, in a delivery that weighed more than 3 tons. Per 9News, Fired Up Fabrication sued JMF last summer for nonpayment on work it had done building metal stairs and handrails—work that JMF says wasn't up to snuff.

Arbitration led to the $23,500 settlement, but in August, Danielle Beem, Fired Up Fabrication's attorney, received the payment at her Denver office in a surprising way: A flatbed truck rolled up holding a steel box with the entire amount in quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies, at a weight of 6,500 pounds. "A symbolic middle finger," was how Beem described it, per CBS, adding that the move was "petty and a grand waste of time," especially since the coins were loose, not wrapped. Beem added that the freight elevator in her building could only hold a max of 3,000 pounds, and that her bank, her client's bank, and even JMF's bank wouldn't accept the coins.

Neither would the local supermarket coin machine, due to the sheer volume. "A major F-U," she says of the delivery. JD Frank, JMF's owner, says there should be no issue with how his company paid up. "I'm just trying to pay a bill," he said, per 9News. "At the end of the day, it is US currency." His lawyer added in court documents, per the New York Post: "The coins, being current coin of the realm, constituted a tender of the settlement funds, and therefore, JMF has complied with the terms of the agreement." The judge agreed with Beem, however, noting that the stunt was "a tactic aimed at frustrating and undermining" Fired Up Fabrication, per CBS. JMF now has 14 days to pay the subcontractor in a more lightweight conventional way, such as a check or certified bank check. (More coins stories.)

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