Papa John's Founder Wins Major Bench Trial Ruling Against Former Ad Firm

Schnatter: "We look forward to the jury trial to achieve a complete victory in this case"

LOUISVILLE, Ky., Oct. 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- This week, the founder of Papa John's International, Inc. (PZZA), John Schnatter, secured a major preliminary victory in his case against the former company ad firm, Laundry Service, owned by Hollywood media mogul and Chairman of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics Casey Wasserman.

The rulings by Judge Benjamin Beaton in U.S. District Court in the Western District of Kentucky determined that the nondisclosure agreement between the parties is valid and binding and that the Defendant was too late to compel arbitration in the matter. "The Court finds that the contract does bind Laundry Service," Judge Beaton wrote in his opinion, addressing the central question of the bench trial.

"Schnatter is right: Laundry Service's motion to compel comes too late," Judge Beaton also stated. "Almost half a decade, tens of thousands of pages of discovery, and handfuls of motions … came and went before it filed a motion to arbitrate."

The next step is to go to a jury trial. Schnatter filed the lawsuit in December 2019 to demonstrate that Laundry Service leaked a partial, deceptively-edited excerpt from a private coaching session to Forbes, intentionally distorting comments Schnatter made against racism and reversing their meaning to harm the Papa John's founder and the iconic brand he built over 34 years. Laundry Service subsequently provided a doctored tape of the conference call to Papa John's International with several crucial minutes deleted.

"Judge Beaton looked at the facts and affirmed that my agreement with Laundry Service is valid and binding, and that after four long years of litigation the ad firm is too late to push the case to arbitration," said Papa John Schnatter. "We look forward to the jury trial to achieve a complete victory in this case which will demonstrate that Casey Wasserman's ad firm set me up, as I've been saying all along."

To learn more about Papa John Schnatter, please visit papajohnschnatter.com.

Reference: Civil Action No. 3:20-cv-000003-CHBCHL

SOURCE John Schnatter