Kate McLaughlin, ex-wife of former Subway spokesperson Jared Fogle, is suing the sandwich chain.
The lawsuit, obtained by the Huffington Post, was filed on Monday in Indiana. It claims that Subway was aware of Fogle’s sexual misconduct and ignored it for years. McLaughlin’s lawyer, Mike Antrim, said at a press conference on Monday that this lawsuit is a last resort after the company resisted their “private efforts at communication.”
“I filed this lawsuit because I have questions,” McLaughlin stated at Monday’s press conference. “Questions to which I have no other way to get answers. Questions like what did Subway know and when did they know it? What investigations, if any, did they conduct? Did they ever notify the authorities?”
The lawsuit alleges that Subway was first notified of Fogle’s illegal behavior in 2004, when he supposedly propositioned a minor. Fogle and McLaughlin married in 2010, and Fogle was arrested in 2015. They have two children together, 3 and 5 years old.
McLaughlin said that it’s “beyond comprehension” that the chain would send him to schools for promotional events and continue to market him as a family man knowing, as she alleges, about his misconduct. The lawsuit refers to Fogle as Subway’s “cash cow,” saying that the company was “driven by sales rather than the safety of kids.”
McLaughlin is seeking damages citing various offenses by Subway, including misappropriation of likeness. She claims that it used her and her children’s photos in its advertising without her consent. The lawsuit is also accusing Subway of intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, negligence per se, and right of publicity.
When Coins2Day reached out to Subway, a spokesperson said that the company does not comment on pending legal action.