[momtothree]

I thought that currency was currency. Is paying a bill with pennies a message of sorts? Yeah. But money is money.

[max americana]

Someone should explain how paying a bill in legal American currency constitutes “disorderly conduct”. He is paying his disputed bill and he paid for it.

[Brilliant]

Yes... apparently pennies are no longer legal tender?

[Jonty30]

I think all currency is legal to use, if I’m not mistaken. But it is the obligation of the business to make it work.

A business has the right to refuse the form of payment the customer wishes to use. A business could, if it wanted to do so, accept payments only in Russian rubles.

A smart business will be as flexible as they can be, but it was their right to not accept any particular form of payment they do not wish to accept.

[shelterguy]

I recall reading somewhere that a penny is legal tender for a debt of up to ten dollars. Could be wrong though since I,ve only been to 50 states and it might be different in the other seven.

[Blood of Tyrants]

He went too far when he dumped the pennies all over the counter. He should have just left them in a box and said they could count them when they had time.

[ml/nj]

Found at: http://www.mtas.tennessee.edu/Knowledgebase.nsf/0/AB04FB8C07985FEC852570310052C341

I found a brief annotation on what constitutes legal tender at 31 ALR 246 [which I reprieved from West law and is supposedly current as of June, 2004] on what constitutes "legal tender." It points out that with respect to coins as legal tender, "The minor coins of the United States are legal tender for any amount not exceeding 25 cents in any one payment. Act Feb. 12, 1873, Rev. Stat. ' 387, Comp. Stat. ' 6574, 6 Fed.Stat. Anno. 2d. ed. p. 298."

Sidney D. Hemsley
Senior Law Consultant

Minor coins used to be defined as ones made out of copper or nickel. But since the US government began counterfeiting coins in 1965, I'm no longer certain whether all coins are now "minor coinage," or not.

ML/NJ