John Schnatter Sues Papa John’s

The continuing saga of Papa John’s and John Schnatter opened a new chapter yesterday, when the exiled founder and former CEO filed a lawsuit against the pizza chain in a Delaware court.

The suit seeks to allow Schnatter access to inspect company documents to determine whether the board may have “acted without adequate information and breached their duty of care” or “planned this coup in advance,” according to the claim.

It was less than a month ago that Schnatter resigned from his role as chairman of the board of the company he founded. Since then, updates have occurred at a breathless pace. First, the company announced it would remove Schnatter from all of its marketing , then Schnatter said he regrets his decision to resign and accused the board of orchestrating his ouster without “apparently doing any investigation.”

This week, the franchise approved the extraordinary measure of a “poison pill” provision to prevent the former CEO from regaining control of the company by purchasing stock in the open market.

If this fight ever had a chance of wrapping up quietly, this lawsuit all but ensures it won’t.