A US-based welding company attempted to settle a $23,500 payment to a subcontractor using loose coins, but the judge later condemned this gesture. JMF Enterprises was initially ordered to pay Fired Up Fabrication the settlement amount in 2022 for an alleged breach of contract. However, the welding company decided to pay the amount in loose change weighing 3 tons. In a recent ruling, the court criticized JMF for acting “maliciously and in bad faith” by making such an unconventional payment.
Judge Joseph Findley ordered JMF Enterprise and its owner, John Frank, to pay the subcontractor through a more conventional method, such as a check. The court also instructed the Northern Colorado company to cover Fired Up Fabrication’s attorney fees and costs. Judge Findley stated that JMF’s coin stunt only prolonged the case and was intended to annoy and harass the subcontractor.
The dispute originates from a 2022 lawsuit filed against JMF concerning an alleged breach of contract. Fired Up Fabrication was hired as a subcontractor for welding work on an apartment building. The subcontractor claimed that JMF only made partial payments despite repeated requests for the agreed-upon full amount.
During the summer, the two companies reached a settlement, with JMF agreeing to pay $23,500 to the subcontractor. However, in August, the welding company sent a flatbed truck loaded with a specially constructed box filled with loose quarters, nickels, and pennies, weighing nearly 6,500 pounds. Fired Up Fabrication’s attorney, Danielle Beem, described this act as a “pretty and grand waste of time” and referred to the coin delivery as a “symbolic middle finger.”
JMF’s lawyers argued that the coins constituted a tender of the settlement funds and claimed that the company had complied with the terms of the agreement since it did not specify a specific form of payment. They also stated that they had no intention of harassing the subcontractor.
The judge has given JMF 14 days to pay Fired Up Fabrication using a certified bank check or another standard method of payment.
