A firm paid a legal settlement in loose coins in a great metal box. This is what is know in the law as “bad faith.” It is to be assumed that people live and negotiate without vile intent. Paying a fine by a cumbersome means is not a legitimate form of payment or obedience to a court order.
Reading the comments on this article was a horrible experience. People seemed to feel that payment can be made any way you want under the law. They flashed the term, legal tender, as if that mattered in this circumstance. The truly pitiful delight they seemed to want to take in paying in loose coins spoke poorly of their character and judgment.
There is right and wrong. There are right ways to do things and clearly wrong ways to do things. Paying a multi-thousand dollar fine in loose change is a very real middle finger perhaps attractive to the boors and barbarians among us. But courts and settlements are not to be mocked and there will be penalties for this kind of nonsense.
We as American citizens have a responsibility at all times to conduct ourselves in a reasonable manner. I would add that we should adhere to the standard of ladies and gentleman. Although these last years of horrid politics has called into question whether or not Americans any longer understand the duties of a gentleman.
Nevertheless, we should do what is right and keep our symbolic middle fingers to ourselves and always, always appeal to the better angels of our nature.
James Pilant
Pilant's Business Ethics Blog 