The day after his wife filed for divorce, Papa John's founder, John Schnatter, filed suit against the ad firm that reportedly made the original allegations that he had made a racial slur, accelerating Schnatter's demise as a Papa John's top executive, according to a news release from Schnatter. 

The suit, filed today in Jefferson County Circuit Court, Papa John's home base of Louisville, Kentucky, claims the ad agency, 247 Group, LLC, doing business as Laundry Service, and its parent company, Wasserman Media, committed breach of contract, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and tortious interference with prospective economic advantage.

That last count refers to intentionally interfering in contractual relations, when one party intentionally damages another's contract or business dealings with a third party, inflicting economic harm.  

The claims stem from a meeting with Laundry Service in May 2018 that the news release said was "secretly taped." Some of the statements made during that meeting later appeared in a Forbes report claiming Schnatter had made the slur against African Americans. Schnatter's news release counters that during that meeting he had, in fact, expressed disdain for racism.

The complaint also highlights a commercial dispute between Laundry Service and Papa John's International in which Wasserman CEO Casey Wasserman is alleged to have told Papa John's former CEO Steve Ritchie that he would "bury the founder" if Laundry Service was not paid $6 million. 

The suit was filed in the same judicial branch that handles felony cases in Kentucky and asks for unspecified damages on the three counts against the companies named as defendants. The release added that Schnatter will donate all proceeds from the case to an unspecified charity or charities.  

"Today, I've taken a major step forward in search of the truth of what happened that caused me to lose my company, which resulted in thousands of franchisees and employees suffering from the economic fallout," Schnatter said in the release. "The facts will show that my words were taken out of context and used to manufacture a scandal against me based on a completely false narrative."

Schnatter's attorney, Terence Healey said in the release that they are looking forward to an open account of what occurred around the circumstances in question and "encourage people to read the complaint and look at what John actually said."

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