In a lawsuit against Papa John’s former ad firm, Laundry Service, founder and former CEO John Schnatter alleged that the company damaged him and the company brand when it secretly taped a conference call, violating his contract.
Additionally, there are nearly 13,000 documents that Schnatter has requested from Papa John’s relating to the lawsuit, but the company refuses to turn them over to Schnatter. The company is seeking a guarantee by both parties of blanket confidentiality.
However, Laundry Service says it cannot agree to confidentiality without knowing the contents of the documents.
The move by Papa John’s to refuse to release the documents has led Schnatter and many others to question the reasoning behind their decision.
“Papa John’s has dragged their feet for months trying to prevent the court from seeing 13,000 documents subpoenaed by Wasserman Media as a part of our litigation. The most troubling thing about it is that this continues a consistent pattern of cover-up by the company since the false attacks against me in 2018, Schnatter argued,” he said
When the conference call that is referred to in the lawsuit was leaked, it ultimately led to the downfall of the former CEO.
“Why would Papa John’s try so hard to hide these documents from public view? Could it be that they’re hiding something about their possible role in the set-up by our former ad firm, Wasserman Media company ‘Laundry Service,’ when my comments against racism were secretly taped and their meaning was reversed and leaked to the media,” he questioned of the company’s continued efforts.
Schnatter founded the popular pizza restaurant chain in 1984 in Jeffersonville, Indiana. He grew the chain from a single store to more than 5,000 restaurants in more than 45 different countries.
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Cooper Moran is a reporter for the Star News Network. Follow Cooper on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
