Man Cited After Paying Bill With 2,500 Pennies

VERNAL, Utah -- A Utah man has been cited on a charge of disorderly conduct after paying for a disputed medical bill with 2,500 pennies.

The Deseret News of Salt Lake City reports Jason West went to Basin Clinic in Vernal on May 27 prepared to dispute an outstanding $25 bill.

Assistant Vernal Police Chief Keith Campbell says that after asking staff members whether they accepted cash, West dumped 2,500 pennies on the counter and demanded that staff count them.

Campbell says the incident upset staff because pennies were strewn about the counter and floor, and West's action served "no legitimate purpose."

Police later issued the 38-year-old West a citation for disorderly conduct. That carries a fine of as much as $140. Or 14,000 pennies.

Comments

[runfastandwin]

09:29 PM on 06/10/2011

Over $25? He got what he deserved.

[tatashady]

05:37 PM on 07/27/2011

It's the principle. I wouldn't pay a 15 cent library late charge when i had proof that I returned the item on time. They still protested after I proved I was right, but finally "waived" the fee. I couldn't care less about the 15 cents...it's the principle.

[Cora Wiedersberg]

06:11 PM on 06/10/2011

i know of a man in franklin county in ottawa kansas paid his taxes in pennies, but they the county treasurey refused to take payment because it was not bills for inder which is wrong, his bill was paid when paid with the pennies. but the newspaper the Ottawa Hearld thought it should be paid only in bills not coins, that had to be rolled and waste the clerks time to do so. excuse me what else do they have to do?? did he not pay his bill?? in my opion yes he did.
sorry my spelling may be abit off.

[Twrexx]

03:45 PM on 06/10/2011

If he hadn't dumped them out, they would have been obligated to take the pennies and he'd have no problem. Silly.

[aphextwin07]

03:03 PM on 06/09/2011

lol, that is awesome. too bad he got another fine though.

[curtisraymond]

02:29 PM on 06/08/2011

Are pennies not money? The staff was upset because they had to count them. Belguim doesn't use pennies. I'm sure we could save some money if we fazed them out of the system. A citation for disorderly conduct? Really? He should pay 14,000 pennies, unwraped.

[curtisraymond]

02:37 PM on 06/08/2011

should be unwrapped

[Edward C Atkinson]

12:14 AM on 06/12/2011

pennies are money but when you walk into a business and dump 2500 pennies on a desk as a statement...that's something else. had he just walked in and dropped a huge bag of pennies...not prob. dumping them onto the desk and all over the floor is mean spirited and was intended to be disruptive. dude had a bill to pay. the person he was forcing to count his pennies was just a person trying to get through a day of work. his action was selfish and inconsiderate of other people.

[Vila Star]

11:35 AM on 06/08/2011

this is just funny. I took 3550 pennys to the bank in a big pickle jar. they thought it was fuuny that I had that many. If i was the place would havee made him count the pennies and roll them.

[tednarcotic]

10:11 AM on 06/07/2011

We should make the rich pay their normal tax bill and then give them the Bush tax cut in pennies.

[tednarcotic]

10:04 AM on 06/07/2011

He should pay his fine with 140 one hundred dollar bills.

[tgiovanni]

11:29 AM on 06/10/2011

Wouldn't he then overpay his fine by 139,860.00 ?

[towarf]

01:48 PM on 06/10/2011

lol nothing worse than correcting someone incorrectly

[Hypocrites are Watching]

09:19 AM on 06/07/2011

The man deserves a medal (of copper of course)

[Aleks Hunter]

08:52 AM on 06/07/2011

When ATM's first appeared, they were sold to a skeptical public as a cost cutting convenience. Now plastic cards are the mechanism used by these same big banks to siphon off billions and billions more every year from the American economy. This mechanism has, as Elizabeth Warren has crusaded to point out, most expensive to those who can least afford to pay the fees. Then next stage in this evolution is for the big banks to incrementally get rid of cold hard cash so that they can collectively monopolize the economy, skimming a little at every level of economic activity. The US constitution clearly states that only the US Congress has the power to coin money. Look in your wallet. Look right now. Is the instrument of finance you use most often inscribed with "In God We Trust?" or is it a piece of plastic bearing the logo of one or more huge private financial institutions? Are these fees a privately imposed form of taxation?

[LastAngryWoman]

05:32 AM on 06/07/2011

The best and weirdest present I ever received was from my dad for my eighteenth birthday.

He didn't live with us...so he sent over my present in a cab. The cab driver asked me if I needed help and I said no, while looking at two cloth sacks sitting on the floor of his cab. I then tried to lift them and I could not. He smiled, and carried them in for me.

Turns out, they were pennies. Two sacks of pennies.

It took five kids two weeks of rolling pennies while watching tv...to come up with one hundred dollars. It was AWEsome!

[OldSurrender]

04:35 AM on 06/07/2011

So did the hospital accept the payment? If not, the hospital broke the law by not accepting legal tender.

A University of Kansas law student paid his parking tickets with pennies. The most-loathed KU parking refused, he took them to court, and he won.

[dsws]

04:05 PM on 06/07/2011

When someone offers to pay a debt, the creditor doesn't have to accept it. It's just that the debt is canceled if they refuse payment.

[OldSurrender]

04:54 AM on 06/08/2011

I was mistaken, he just pointed out to KU parking that he had the legal right to pay in pennies.

http://www.kansan.com/news/2010/apr/21/one-thousand-pennies/

[dsws]

01:00 AM on 06/07/2011

Actually, this article says he didn't demand that the pennies be counted.
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705373959/Peeved-patient-proud-of-penny-protest.html

[emeathead45]

12:49 AM on 06/07/2011

He blew his whole point by spewing them about. It was a GREAT idea, but he didn`t follow thru properly. He should have set the bag on the counter, asked for a receipt. Then they could decide if they want to count them. Also, more than likely the person he threw the pennies at is not the 1 who decides if he did or did not owe the $25. probably just an average person trying to make a living & his actions did not really get to the person responsible for maintaining he owed the $25.

[Hypocrites are Watching]

09:21 AM on 06/07/2011

omg do you get hit with things much

[emeathead45]

01:24 AM on 06/10/2011

No. Anymore stupid questions? Your comment makes no sense whatsoever. It shows that the standard is low to be a HP super user!. I made a very VALID point. His point would nhave been better taken without throwing them all over. Why do you have a problem with that. You give no reason for your omg, do i get hit much remark. And you asked a question without a ? on the end. HP pooper user is more like it. You are a VERY WEAK commentor!

[Indra]

03:55 PM on 06/07/2011

There is no average person making a living there are just those who are complicit. Secretaries etc., are nothing but extensions of the management. They are hired guns to do the dirty work. Most people need the money so they will lie, cheat, and ultimately harm anyone who screws around with their job or boss.

[dsws]

12:47 AM on 06/07/2011

I don't have any particular knowledge of business law, but from googling the question it sounds as though he did not tender the pennies.

"The whole sum due must be offered, in the lawful coin of the United States, or foreign coin made current by law; and the offer must be unqualified by any circumstance whatever. "

In this case, the offer was qualified by the demand that the employee waste time gathering and counting the pennies. That was the whole point. By contrast, if the pennies were in a bag and the debtor simply offered the bag, saying "here's $25 in pennies, take it or leave it", the money would be tendered. In that case the debt would be discharged -- but only if there were indeed *exactly* 2,500 pennies in the bag: "the amount tendered must be what is due exactly, for a tender of a five dollar note, demanding change, would not be a good tender of four dollars".
http://www.lectlaw.com/def2/t076.htm

[robnelsong]

04:30 PM on 06/12/2011

Thank you for providing your concise legal explanation along with a citation. The next time I get an annoying bill, I'll give paying in pennies a try. Of course, I'd have to be very accurate in my penny count since being off by one or two would probably lead to a dime in the clink.

[dsws]

07:50 PM on 06/12/2011

Note that what I said only applies if it's a just-plain-debt. If you had to sign something with a bunch of fine print, it may have included an agreement not to pay in pennies.