The shareholders of DavidsTea Inc. is have united to sue company founder Herschel Segal, seeking to have him removed as executive chairman and elect a board of new directors.

This move was spearheaded by three partnerships, whose shares come up to a total of 12.8 per cent in the company. They have filed a suit in Quebec Superior Court against Segal and his investment firm, Rainy Day Investments. The investment company owns 46.4 percent of the company’s shares.

Even though the company itself Davidstea is not named as a defendant in the case, the company has replied saying the lawsuit has no standing and only contains outdated and baseless accusations. According to reports on Financial post,DavidsTeain the company’s statement issued on the subject, is saying it would not let the company’s mission be distracted by efforts to turn it around. It promises to defend itself against every effort that may affect the appointment of management or election of directors.

It likens this present lawsuit to another lawsuit in the past which came up just before the June annual meeting and which was later withdrawn. A couple of directors from Rainy Day were elected to the board and this had led to the resignation of DavidsTea CEO, Joel Silver, he had been appointed on March 13, 2017 as President and Chief Executive Officer, his resignation made Segal the executive chairman and also interim CEO. In the same vein, Ronald Walton, former president of Tim Hortons Canada who was elected to replace that existing board also resigned as a director. According to reports on Cbc.ca at the time of the event, the CEO resigned after the company’s shareholders voted to remove most of the existing board members, electing new ones. A revolt that was believed to have been led by company co-founder, Segal.

The shareholders had voted 54 percent in favor of Segal’s candidates. It is worth nothing that Segal’s company Rainy Day Investments Ltd, owns about 46 per cent of the outstanding shares. As of the time of these earlier events, these three investment companies suing the company now, had strongly opposed Segal’s plans, they had accused the co-founder of trying to acquire the company without paying a premium.

The company DavidsTea was founded in 2008 by David Segal and his cousin Herschel Segal, it opened its first store on Queen Street in Toronto the same year, then subsequent stores followed in Montreal 2 and by 2010 it had stores located across Canada, its 50th store was opened in 2011 at Ontario. In November 2011, it also opened its international store in Newyork. Due to the growing tea industry, it has done quite well for itself since then it opened its first store outside of Canada in New York City. The company offers over 150 assortments of teas, numerous tea accessories, and seasonal offerings. The company piloted an initial public offering in the United States in June 2015, the projected NASDAQ stock symbol being TEA.