Suthers
DENVER (Legal Newsline) - Colorado Attorney General John Suthers announced on Monday that his office has filed a lawsuit against a Denver-based non-profit in an effort to dissolve the organization so a successor can continue the entity's mission.
According to the lawsuit, filed in Denver District Court, Fired Up For Kids allegedly solicited donations through the sale of calendars to raise money for the Children's Hospital Burn Unit. While the organization presented itself as a non-profit entity and was registered with the Colorado Secretary of State's office, the organization was allegedly a for-profit entity.
Kirsten Hamling, the president and sole board member of the organization, allegedly began using the accounts and assets of Fired Up For Kids for personal uses, including airline tickets and gym memberships, shortly after the non-profit formed. The lawsuit was a necessity after Hamling resigned from the organization in September, refusing to turn over the intellectual and physical property of the organization, including its bank accounts, to a successor.
The Colorado Revised Nonprofit Corporations Act allows Suthers to request that a judge dissolves a nonprofit where it abuses its authority under law or obtains its articles of incorporation through fraud.
The lawsuit requests that the court transfer the assets of Fired Up for Kids to Colorado Firefighter Calendar Inc., a Colorado non-profit corporation with a significantly similar purpose to that of the one stated in Fired Up for Kids' articles of incorporation.