Denver Fire Fighters IAFF Local 858 has filed suit against the International Association of Fire Fighters and the Colorado Professional Fire Fighters seeking a ruling that it successfully disaffiliated from the state association and does not owe nearly $389,000 in unpaid dues.

The complaint was filed in Denver District Court on August 10, 2026. It alleges that Local 858 voluntarily paid dues to the Colorado Professional Fire Fighters for a number of years, but never entered into a written affiliation agreement or any other contract with the state association requiring those payments. In 2024, the dues amounted to $20,747.72 per month.

On September 24, 2024, Local 858’s executive board voted 5-4 to suspend dues payments for 90 days. The Local notified the Colorado Professional Fire Fighters two days later and made its final payment on September 19, 2024.

In November 2024, the executive board voted 7-2 to disaffiliate from the state association and permanently stop paying dues. Local 858 notified the Colorado Professional Fire Fighters of that decision on November 13, 2024.

According to the complaint, the state association subsequently removed two Local 858 officers from their positions as the CPFF’s president and vice president. It also stopped sending member-related emails to Local 858 members and blocked their access to the members-only portions of its website.

Local 858 later submitted the disaffiliation question directly to its membership. After providing 31 days’ written notice, the Local conducted a referendum in March 2025 in which 59% of the votes favored disaffiliation. The membership then approved a resolution prohibiting the Local from making further payments to the Colorado Professional Fire Fighters.

A second referendum was conducted on March 16 and 17, 2026, following the settlement of internal union charges brought against members of Local 858’s executive board. After 33 days’ written notice, 70.6% of the members voting supported “forfeit[ing] [the] charter” with the state association.

The complaint alleges that Local 858 used the charter-forfeiture wording to comply with the settlement agreement even though the Colorado Professional Fire Fighters had never issued the Local a charter.

On May 11, 2026, the state association invoiced Local 858 for $388,936.93 in dues that it claims accrued after the Local stopped making payments in September 2024.

Local 858 advances several alternative grounds for why it does not owe the money. Its primary contention is that there was never a contract or other authority obligating it to pay dues. The complaint states:

• Although Local 858 voluntarily paid dues to CPFF over a period of time, it was not, and has never been, obligated to do so.

Alternatively, Local 858 alleges that the parties’ conduct may have created an implied-in-fact, month-to-month contract. Even under that theory, the Local contends it was free to terminate the arrangement because there were no agreed-upon requirements governing when or how it could be canceled. Local 858 claims its September and November 2024 votes, coupled with the notices sent to the state association, ended any such contractual obligation.

The dispute with the IAFF centers on Article XIV, Section 11 of the IAFF Constitution and Bylaws. The IAFF reportedly maintains that Local 858’s attempts to disaffiliate were ineffective because they did not comply with that provision.

Section 11 is titled “Voluntary Forfeiture of State and Provincial Charter by a Local Union.” It states:

• There shall be no voluntary forfeiture of the charter of a state or provincial association by a local union unless the majority of its membership in good standing votes to forfeit the charter.
• Voluntary forfeiture of a charter shall be determined only by a referendum vote of the local union.
• This referendum shall be conducted by secret ballot after at least thirty (30) days written notice has been made to all members of such local union, stating that a proposal to forfeit the charter will be submitted to a referendum ballot.
• Such written notice shall also be communicated by the local union seeking forfeiture to the International General President and will be promptly communicated to the International Vice President for that state or province and the affected state or provincial association president.
• The referendum shall be initiated only by motion of the membership in good standing of such local union.

Local 858 contends that the Section 11 of Article XIV governs the forfeiture of a state or provincial association’s charter, not a local union’s decision to disaffiliate from a state association. As the complaint explains:

• Absent a controlling contract or other authority that says otherwise, a local union that is an affiliate of a state union may disaffiliate from the state union at any time and in any manner that is reasonably calculated to reflect the will of its membership.
• Article XIV, Section 11, however, does not establish the process that Local 858 is required to follow in order to disaffiliate from CPFF, nor does any other authority.
• By its terms, Article XIV, Section 11 deals only with the “voluntary forfeiture of the charter of a state or provincial association by a local union[.]”
• Forfeiture of a charter is not the same as the disaffiliation of a local from the state affiliate.
• Local 858 was therefore free to disaffiliate from CPFF at any time and in any manner that was reasonably calculated to reflect the will of its membership.
• Local 858, as a result, validly and effectively disaffiliated from CPFF in November 2024, when its executive board voted (7-2) in favor of the disaffiliation.

On that basis, Local 858 contends the disaffiliation became effective with the executive board’s 7-2 vote in November 2024. Alternatively, it claims the March 2025 referendum, approved by 59% of those voting, accomplished the disaffiliation. As a third alternative, it relies on the March 2026 charter-forfeiture referendum approved by 70.6% of the vote.

The suit asks the court to declare that Local 858 does not owe the Colorado Professional Fire Fighters any unpaid dues and that it validly disaffiliated from the state association. Here is a copy of the complaint: