NAACP National Office Sues Local Colorado Chapter For Attempted Dissolution, Control Of Assets

The NAACP says the actions of former Boulder County executive members are unlawful and threaten the organization and its members.

The national NAACP organization is taking legal action against a chapter in Boulder, Colorado, alleging former executive committee members attempted to take control of funds, dissolve the branch, and spread misinformation.

The lawsuit, filed June 16 in U.S. District Court, names 13 former executive committee members of the Boulder chapter whom the non-profit civil rights organization claims overstepped their authority after they filed documents of dissolution with the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office without permission from the national office.

The NAACP further accuses the former Boulder County members of “breaching their fiduciary duty” after attempts to liquidate $77,000 in assets from a bank account. The lawsuit notes an additional attempt to liquidate $25,000 of Google stock.

“For the past several months, Defendants have engaged in a campaign of misinformation and disparagement against the NAACP that has harmed the organization’s reputation and, on information and belief, financially,” the lawsuit states. “Upon dissolution, Defendants began ‘winding up’ the Branch, including disposing of the Branch’s assets and causing irreparable harm.”

The complaint states that the former Boulder County members have “deprived the NAACP of the Branch’s existing assets and new donations, converted the Branch’s assets, misappropriated trade secrets, publicly disparaged the NAACP, engaged in deceptive trade practices, and conspired against the NAACP.”

The NAACP Boulder Branch was chartered by the national office’s Board of Directors on February 18, 2017. A letter attached to the Articles of Incorporation filed with the Colorado Secretary of State for the Boulder Branch stated, “Any assets accumulated during the life of the organization shall be distributed to our State/State-Area governance according to the Bylaws of the NAACP.”

According to Boulder Reporting Lab, the former treasurer refused to relinquish control of assets despite multiple requests from the national office to do so.

While unit executive committees are entrusted with day-to-day decision-making responsibilities and direction, no unit is permitted to dissolve itself. In an April 1 press statement, the NAACP said “The NAACP Boulder County Chapter has not been dissolved, and any claim otherwise is completely false. Members cannot close NAACP Chapters. Per the NAACP Constitution, only the Board of Directors has that authority, and it has not voted to do so.”

Last year, three members of NAACP’s Boulder County executive committee were accused of unethical conduct by Boulder City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde during a July 2024 mediation session which followed her hiring Stephen Redfearn as police chief.

The decision left the city at odds with Boulder County chapter members who raised concerns about Redfearn’s role in the death of 23-year-old Black Colorado man, Elijah McClain. In a statement released last October, Rivera-Vandermyde claimed the NAACP members violated the “Mutual Respect and Dialogue Agreement” after they “secretly recorded” a mediated and “supposedly confidential” meeting between city officials and organization members.

The national office has deemed the behavior of the former executive committee members as unlawful and said it harms the NAACP and its members.