Papa John sues Papa John's pizza company after being ousted over race row
Founder's lawyers say they want to see the documents because of 'unexplained and heavy-handed way'
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Your support makes all the difference.The founder of Papa John’s has taken the pizza chain to court seeking documents relating to him being ousted from the company over a racial slur he used during a meeting.
John Schnatter was the company’s chairman until he resigned last month after apologising for using a notorious racial epithet during a conference call.
The call had been set up to try to prevent Mr Schnatter from causing public relations problems for the company after he complained that NFL players protesting against racial prejudice in America were damaging pizza sales.
“Colonel Sanders called blacks n*****s,” Mr Schnatter said, before complaining that Sanders never faced public backlash.
Lawyers for Mr Schnatter said they wanted to inspect the documents because of the “unexplained and heavy-handed way” that Papa John’s had treated him.
Mr Schnatter had been falsely accused of using the racist term, the lawyers said in a complaint filed on Thursday at Delaware Chancery Court.
“Rather than address the real issues like the health of the business, the company is hiding documents that, we believe, will disclose the actual facts as to what is occurring here, including using Mr Schnatter as a scapegoat to cover up their own shortcomings and failures,” they added.
Papa John’s has said it will remove Mr Schnatter’s image from its branding.
On Thursday, the company said it was “saddened and disappointed” that Mr Schnatter had filed a “needless and wasteful lawsuit in an attempt to distract from his own words and actions”.
“We are providing Mr Schnatter all of the materials he is entitled to as a director.
“We will not let his numerous misstatements in the complaint and elsewhere distract us from the important work we are doing to move the business forward for our 120,000 corporate and franchise team members, and our franchisees, customers and stakeholders,” the company said.
Mr Schnatter owns 30 per cent of the company, and his lawyers said that as long as he holds a significant stake he intends to remain on the board.
On Thursday he said that Steve Ritchie, who rose to chief executive after starting out at the company on $6 per hour, should not be leading the company.
The firm’s performance had suffered under Mr Ritchie, John Schnatter said. Papa John’s shares have dropped about 40 per cent from a year ago.
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