NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Papa John's declined on Tuesday following news of class-action certification for a lawsuit that claims the pizza chain had unsolicited text messages sent to cell phones.

THE SPARK: The lawsuit filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle claims Papa John's violated state and federal law when they had the marketing company OnTime4U send unsolicited text messages on its behalf to cell phones advertising their pizza products. The lawsuit says that 500,000 illegal text messages were sent to Papa John's customers across the U.S.

Papa John's faces potential damages of more than $250 million. The plaintiffs may each potentially receive $500 or more in damages for each text message.

Messages left with Papa John's seeking comment were not immediately returned.

SHARE ACTION: Papa John's International Inc.'s stock fell 34 cents to $49.10 in afternoon trading after dropping as low as $46.72 earlier in the session. Over the past year, the shares have traded in a range of $35.21 to $56.41.