SPERLING & SLATER

PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION

TELEPHONE 55 WEST MONROE STREET

(312) 641-3200 SUITE 3200
FACSIMILE CHICAGO , IL 60603
(312) 641-6492
March 21, 2017

Via Email (paultraynor@haymoon.com &

paultraynor@earthlink.net), Text Message
((224) 522-2242) & United States Mail:

Paul D. Traynor Hay Moon, Inc., d/b/a Hay Moon Media

1600 Central Ave. c/o its registered agent, Paul D. Traynor
Wilmette, IL 60091 1600 Central Ave.
Wilmette, IL 60091

Re: Cease & Desist Concerning "Race Bait" Podcast Episodes 2, 4, 5 & 7
& the "NEW TRIER: Tip of the Spear" Movie

Dear Mr. Traynor:

We represent a group of New Trier residents, including Denise Dellva, Michaela Stavros,
Darrell Butler, Jasmine Hauser, and several others, who have learned that tomorrow, you intend
to publicly "premiere" (and release online) a movie entitled "NEW TRlER: Tip of the Spear"
that uses their names (and perhaps likenesses) without their permission, reveals private
information about them, casts them in a false and negative light, and makes false, defamatory
and damaging statements about them merely because they have ideas and views that are different
from yours.

What's worse, we have learned, is that tomorrow's premiere is simply the latest example
of your unlawful conduct. Indeed the very video you are using to raise money and sell tickets for
this commercial film venture, see https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ 15949523 78/new-trier-
tip-of-the-spear/description, violates my clients' rights of publicity and privacy, and has already
cast them in a false light and defamed them. And so has the "Race Bait" podcast you create and
distribute, including episodes 2, 4, 5 and 7. Enough is enough! With this letter, we hereby
demand that you cease and desist all such unlawful conduct.

Our clients (and many others you are harming) are long-standing members of the
community with good reputations who make positive contributions to their families, businesses,
neighborhoods, schools and communities. Yet you treat them with contempt and a tone that has
no place in any decent community. In the promotional video and podcast episodes, for example,
you claim, among other things, that my clients (and others who agree with them) are "racists,"
affiliate with "racist" organizations, deny there is racism, are opposed to public education,
oppose any conversation about "civil rights" in our schools, lack any community support, and are
being funded and controlled by "outside" interests. Such statements are so false and so divorced
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Mr. Paul Traynor & Hay Moon Media March 21, 2017
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from any reasonable view of actual facts that your intent can only be to intimidate, harass and
punish anyone who doesn't share your worldview. In addition to being mean-spirited and just
plain wrong, your conduct has already injured the reputation of my clients (and others), and
based on what you have said in the promotional video, on the podcast, and to others, the movie
appears calculated to repeat and magnify the damage you have already caused.

To be specific, your actions have violated my clients' rights to publicity and privacy, cast
them in a false light, and defamed them, and is the basis for legal action, not only to stop your
continued, wrongful conduct, but to secure an award of compensatory and punitive damages.

Right of Publicity. The Illinois Right of Publicity Act, 765 ILCS 1075/1 et seq.,
prohibits the use of a person's identity "for commercial purposes ... without having obtained
previous written consent," id. at 1075/30(a), and subjects violators to the greater of either "(1)
actual damages, profits derived from the unauthorized use, or both; or (2) $1000," id at
1075/40(a), plus punitive damages for "willful" violations, id at 1075/40(b), and payment of the
prevailing parties' attorneys' fees, costs, and expenses, id at 1075/55. Our clients (and many
others we have spoken to) confirm that you have never obtained consent to use their identities as
part of your commercial film project.

Right to Privacy. The law has long recognized that one who publicizes private
information concerning another is subject to liability for invasion of privacy if the matter
publicized is the kind that a reasonable person would find highly offensive and the matter is of
no legitimate public concern. Regardless of how you may characterize your film venture, the
law does not give you the right to "out" and disparage private citizens including those who have
not publicly spoken on an issue merely because you've heard or think they associate or
sympathize with ideas and views you oppose. Mentioning or showing such people in your movie
violates their right to privacy.

False Light & Defamation. A "false light" claim involves the publicizing of
information about a person in a manner or context that conveys "a misleading impression of the
person's character" that would be "highly offensive to a reasonable person," and is done "with
actual malice, with knowledge of or reckless disregard for the falsity of the statements."
Similarly, a statement is defamatory if it impeaches a person's reputation and thereby lowers that
person in the estimation of the community or deters a third party from associating with that
person. As you may be aware, it is not a defense to false light or defamation claims merely to
couch false and offensive statements and portrayals as opinions. Indeed, the U.S. Supreme Court
has rejected what it called "the creation of an artificial dichotomy between 'opinion and fact,"'
and has refused a wholesale defamation exemption for anything claimed to be an "opinion." The
statements you have already made cast my clients (and many others) in a false light and are
defamatory, and based on the promotional video, your movie promises more of the same.

This has gone too far. You have gone too far. Accordingly, we hereby demand: (a) that
you immediately cease and desist all unlawful conduct, including the premiere and release of any
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Mr. Paul Traynor & Hay Moon Media March 21, 2017
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movie that mentions, shows, or disparages my clients without their consent for your own
financial and promotional purposes, and (b) that you provide us with prompt written assurance
that you will cease and desist from further unlawful conduct.

If you fail to promptly comply with this cease and desist demand without correcting the
unauthorized, false, and defamatory content in the podcasts, the promotional video, and the soon-
to-premiere movie, you will do so with full knowledge of the wrongful nature of your conduct
and my clients (and others) will be entitled to pursue all legal remedies, including monetary
damages, equitable relief, punitive damages and legal fees, costs, and expenses. Before taking
these steps, however, my clients wished to give you a final opportunity to do the right thing and
discontinue your unlawful conduct.

If you or your attorney have any questions, please contact me directly.

Sincerely,

~r-M
Adam P. Merrill

APM/ljs