Colorado Business Pays $23,000 Debt in Loose Coins: ‘A Symbolic Middle Finger’

A welding business in Colorado decided to pay back a $23,500 debt with only quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies to get back at a subcontractor who'd accused the company of short-changing them.

JMF Enterprises hired Fired Up Fabrication to do welding work on an apartment building, CBS News Colorado reported. But after the work was completed, Fired Up accused JMF of failing to pay the full amount for its services. The firm subsequently filed a lawsuit to recover the lost compensation.

The companies eventually agreed to settle the dispute with a payment of $23,500, but crucially, the agreement didn't specify how Fired Up should be paid.

A lawyer representing the company was perplexed when a flatbed truck carrying a 6,500-pound load showed up outside her downtown Denver office building in mid-September. The driver explained that the truck was hauling a three-ton box filled with loose change.

A lawyer for JMF promised the truck contained the full debt but warned Fired Up it would need a forklift to safely offload it.

"I think the thought was my clients would have to accept it and it's a giant waste of time and a major F-U," Danielle Beem, an attorney who represents Fired Up, told CBS Colorado.

The "petty" scheme apparently worked as intended: Beem said she had no way of processing the payment because her freight elevator had a 3,000-pound capacity, less than half of the total weight of the coins.

"Even if I wanted to take this box of coins, I had no way of doing so," Beem told the outlet.

JMF argued Fired Up should be forced to accept the loose change because "the coins, being current coin of the realm, constituted a tender of settlement funds, and therefore, JMF has complied with the terms of the agreement," according to documents obtained by CBS Colorado.

"JMF has no intention to harass Plaintiff, waste time, or frustrate the settlement," the company added. It didn't respond to CBS Colorado's request for comment.

But Beem believes the "grand waste of time" could ultimately backfire on JMF. She claims the judge will likely require the company to pay back its debt through conventional means, such as a check, and may even require JMF to fork over an additional $7,000 for added court fees.