Man uses 7,500 pounds of quarters to pay judgment in wrongful death case
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The father of a teenager killed in a 2001 auto accident has paid a $150,000 of a judgment in a wrongful death case to two Illinois law firms, entirely in quarters.
They weighed 7,500 pounds, WSIL reports.
Roger Herrin wound up owing other victims in the crash more than $500,000, the article explains, because of a trial court ruling that was reversed on appeal. The trial judge gave Herrin most of the money from an $800,000 uninsured motorists fund because his son, who was a passenger in Jeep broadsided by a truck that ran a stop sign, had died. But the appellate court, noting that he had received over $1.6 million from other insurance, ordered a refund.
Why did he pay the judgment in quarters? “Because I couldn’t do it in pennies,” Herrin told the station.
The 76-year-old retired foot surgeon is bitter about what he considers an unfair judgment, the Associated Press reports.
Initially brought from the Federal Reserve in St. Louis on Wednesday by armored truck, the quarters were then transferred to a flatbed truck and taken to two law firms that represented other victims of the crash.
Attorneys there said their firms received no advance notice of the unusual delivery, and Mark Prince said he was concerned that news of the large number of coins coming his way created a burglary risk for his Marion, Ill., law firm.
“We’ve been on pins and needles because we had a lot of cash suddenly laying around, it was publicized,” he said. “We don’t have safes or vaults, and we lock our front door. Advance notice would have been nice, because we could have made arrangements to have it delivered to the bank.”
Lawyers for the parties being paid by Herrin said they couldn’t comment on the substance of the case due to a confidentiality agreement, the AP reports.
