Individuals being sued for allegedly making defamatory statements against Edwardsville-based Exo Lounge and Nail Bar deny liability, separately arguing that their statements are protected opinions and only accuse the business of “suspected” criminal activity.
Defendant Rebecca Obermark filed a motion to dismiss the complaint on July 19 through attorney John Chassaing of Greensfelder Hemker & Gale PC in Belleville.
Chassaing wrote that Obermark’s social media post stated that Exo Lounge was “suspected” of criminal activity, which “removes her comments from per se defamation as she is not stating Exo Lounge, LLC committed any crime, merely that they are suspected of having committed a crime.”
Chassaing
Chassaing also wrote that Exo Lounge LLC and Exo Nail Bar LLC are two different and distinct entities, but the complaint “improperly combines and conflates the plaintiffs to assert claims against both defendants.” For example, the suit alleges Obermark made statements regarding Exo Lounge, but both plaintiffs claim they were injured. She argues that the complaint fails to include separate allegations and should be dismissed.
Exo Lounge and Exo Nail Bar LLC filed the complaint June 18 in the Madison County Circuit Court against Jonas Cathey, Ashley Garrison, Stefanie Anderson, Michelle Lynn Baker, Obermark, Amya Helms, Drake Wesser, also known as Drake Chandler, and Hannah Weinreich, alleging defamation.
The lawsuit was filed through attorneys Russell Watters and John Cunningham of Brown & James PC in Belleville.
According to the complaint, Exo began operations as a nail salon, lounge and bar in Edwardsville in early 2020.
“Despite being new companies dealing with the wrath of a global COVID-19 pandemic, plaintiffs prospered into two of the most successful businesses of their kind in not only Edwardsville, Illinois, but the entire Southern Illinois and Eastern Missouri region and beyond,” the suit states.
Exo grew from a small start-up business and was “known as being respectable, virtuous, enjoyable, and prosperous businesses within the local business community and the general public.”
Despite its success, the plaintiff claims it has suffered damages after several individuals spread rumors that it was being investigated by the FBI for sex trafficking, money laundering and drugs.
The suit states that Cathey published statements on Exo’s Facebook page accusing the plaintiff of being raided by the FBI and engaging in human sex trafficking. The post was made shareable and was shared at least 251 times.
Exo also claims that in addition to several now deleted statements on its Facebook page, Garrison wrote, “Wonder why my comment about the drug smuggling, prostitution, and human trafficking was deleted?!?!?! Looking suspicious.”
Anderson is accused of publishing a statement on the plaintiff’s Facebook page stating, “Everyone on here needs to know the ‘issue’ they had yesterday was getting raided for sex trafficking!!!! Rot in hell to all involved. Truth is coming out!!!”
The plaintiff alleges Baker made a Facebook post stating, “One of their own employees discreeted (sic) that indeed Sex Trafficking was going on by one of the male staff members ALSO working there. But they had no clue till somebody got up and said something.. That’s why they were closed. They were under investigation for sex Trafficking of the women (customers) and later on following them, stalking, then making their move.”
Ryann Watkins-Saul replied to Baker’s post stating he is an event manager at EXO Lounge and that the claims are false.
“People who continue to make these posts are the reason that these rumors spread like wild fire (sic). It has deeply effected (sic) our entire staff emotionally. I ask you to please stop. The nail bar was closed for 1.5 days because the POS system crashed and the staff was unable to process transactions…” Saul’s post continued.
Obermark is accused of writing a post stating, “Well you should check out the drama on their Facebook page EXO Lounge.. You may change your mind about going.”
Obermark allegedly replied to responses to her post, saying the plaintiff is suspected of engaging in sex trafficking, money laundering, and drugs.
EXO alleges Helms made a Facebook post stating, “I mean a lot of people did see the fbi there and said money laundering was going on which was true but the dude has a lot of money and owns 2 other salons that ik of in Edwardsville.”
Wasser allegedly made a post stating, “As a former employee, I can confirm that on numerous occasions multiple other employees (including an owner) told us that there was money laundering going on. As far as sex trafficking is concerned, I don’t know about that, but there is shady business going on there without a doubt.”
Further, EXO claims Weinreich made a Facebook post stating, “Hey guys, they closed due to being investigated by the FBI regarding money laundering, trafficking of some sort, and uses truckers to do their dirty work. This is extremely distasteful and if you look on their other page, they make a joke out of it. Disgusting!!!!!”
Exo claims in its lawsuit that the statements published by the defendants “were unequivocally false, unprivileged, and were defamatory …”
The statements allegedly imputed that Exo committed crimes, imputed an inability to perform and a want of integrity in Exo’s discharge of its business operations and employment practices, prejudiced Exo and imputed a lack of the ability to conduct itself in a lawful or capable manner, and were obviously and naturally harmful to Exo that extrinsic facts concerning its damages may be presumed, the suit states.
Exo alleges the defendants knew or should have known that their statements were false.
As a result of the defendants’ alleged actions, Exo claims it sustained significant loss of revenue, damage to its standing and reputation in the community and has been unable to open additional locations or make improvements as planned.
“The severe and adverse financial and reputational impact upon plaintiffs as a result of the statements published” by the defendants will be long-lasting or permanent.
The suit states that the defendants' “false, unprivileged, and defamatory statements were made with actual malice, or were made with such reckless disregard for the falsity of the statements, such that plaintiffs are entitled to punitive damage to deter others from similar conduct."
Exo seeks actual damages and punitive damages in excess of $50,000 against each defendant.
Anderson answered the complaint on July 20 through attorney Jarrod Beasley of Kuehn Beasley and Young PC in Belleville. She denies liability and demands strict proof of the allegations.
In her affirmative defenses, Anderson argues that she “stated an opinion and is protected from liability under the opinion and fair comment privilege.”
“Any and all damage alleged was caused or enhanced by plaintiffs in that any and all posts were capable of being removed from their page and they failed to remove the allegedly offending content,” the answer states.
Garrison, who is representing herself pro se, answered the complaint on July 22. She demands strict proof that the statements were defamatory.
EXO’s Facebook response
In response to the defendants’ alleged defamatory comments, Exo issued a statement on May 25 on its EXO Lounge Facebook page, which reads:
“It has come to our attention that EXO Lounge is currently under public scrutiny regarding specific damaging allegations. We want to assure you, none of these allegations are true, and EXO Lounge is not under investigation for any type of criminal or unscrupulous activity. At EXO Lounge, we are committed to high-standard business practices that have been our building blocks since the very beginning.
“In the past several days, we have taken steps to understand what happened and how these allegations unfolded. We are deeply saddened to see the misinformation and rumors spreading on social media. Not only have these accusations severely impacted our business, but it has impacted our staff on both a personal and professional basis. Money laundering and child sex trafficking are severe allegations and are not to be taken lightly.
“We empathize with those hurt, upset, and disturbed by the allegations. However, we must affirm that these allegations are UNFOUNDED and UNTRUE.
“These malicious rumors are incredibly detrimental to our business and community. We have included a statement provided by Chief of Police, Jay Keevan. ‘At the request of EXO Lounge & Nail Bar ownership we can confirm that there are NO investigations of any kind involving EXO.’
“We can also confirm that our attorney has made personal contact with Federal law enforcement to confirm that there are not, nor have there ever been any investigations involving our organization. He has reported that the rumors have no basis and that they were the product of an active cyber smear campaign.
“We plead that you refrain from resharing or posting these rumors. As a business, we have supported and donated more than $20,000 to the local community of Edwardsville. In addition, EXO Lounge has enhanced the local economy by being a destination attraction for many visitors.
“Should you need further clarification or information about the situation, we encourage you to reach out to us personally. We are here to assuage your concerns and, once again, there are NO such activities taking place in our establishment. To those who have supported us, we would like to say thank you as we navigate this difficult situation, and we trust that we may count on your help and support in stopping the spread of these terrible and impactful allegations.”
However, Keevan denied making the statement Exo claims he made.
“The Edwardsville police department has no open investigation, and I am unaware of any other investigation,” Keeven said.
“I can’t say there isn’t any other investigation because I don’t know that,” he added.
Madison County Circuit Court case number 21-L-706