The Papa John’s saga continues.
John Schnatter, the ousted founder of Papa John’s, is suing the pizza chain.
Schnatter filed a complaint against his former company in a Delaware court on Thursday, seeking access to documents related to his ouster.
Schnatter has alleged that the board may have staged a “coup” against him, and claims in the lawsuit that the company has treated him in an “unexplained and heavy-handed way” following accusations that he had used a racial slur.
The lawsuit claims that the documents in question will demonstrate that directors either “acted without adequate information and breached their duty of care,” or else they “planned this coup in advance.” As such, and due to Schnatter’s continuing position as a director, he is “entitled to determine” whether they were “grossly negligent or are acting in bad faith, or both” through the review of these documents, his lawsuit says.
Papa John’s has denied Schnatter’s claims, and says it is “saddened and disappointed” that he “filed a needless and wasteful lawsuit in an attempt to distract from his own words and actions.” The company plans to give Schnatter “all of the materials he is entitled to as a director.”
