Lauren the Mortician Lawsuit: Braun v. Day and the CCB Case

The Lauren the Mortician lawsuit is Braun v. Day, a federal defamation case filed in December 2023 in the Northern District of Illinois by TikTok mortician Lauren Propson and her attorney Jeanette Braun against four online creators who publicly criticized Propson as transphobic and accused Braun of abusing copyright law. Most of the 16 counts have been dismissed. As of mid-2026, the case continues against two defendants, Rebekah Day and Lily Marston, on a narrowed set of claims.¹

How the Dispute Started

The conflict began in August 2023 with an online disagreement between Propson, who posts death-care and child-safety content as “Lauren the Mortician,” and Jamie Grayson, a certified child passenger safety technician known as “The Baby Guy.” They clashed over a swiveling car seat that Propson advised against and Grayson recommended.² In October 2023, Propson posted on Facebook questioning Grayson’s qualifications and later, on a podcast, reportedly made disparaging comments about his interest in baby products as a gay man.³

Other creators began looking at Propson’s social activity and found she had followed and liked posts from an account described as a far-right influencer who posted homophobic and transphobic content.² On October 24, 2023, TikTok creator Kristina Carter, known as Caffeinated Kitti, posted a video calling Propson a TERF and transphobic, saying she had screenshots of the liked posts. Propson said the accusations spread quickly through creator circles and cost her followers, sponsorships, a travel documentary contract, and a potential podcast deal.⁴

Propson retained Braun, who runs Braun IP Law in Illinois. Braun began filing DMCA copyright takedown notices against creators discussing the controversy on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. Critics said the videos either contained none of Propson’s material or were protected commentary. Grayson’s TikTok account was permanently deleted after multiple copyright strikes, and Carter’s Facebook page was removed through the same process.³

Who Was Sued and What the Complaint Alleged

On December 15, 2023, Braun, Braun IP Law, and Propson filed suit against four defendants: Kristina Carter (Caffeinated Kitti); Rebekah Day, a TikTok creator who covers internet drama; and Lily Marston and Jessica Vazquez, co-hosts of the Do We Know Them podcast.¹ The complaint contained 16 counts including defamation, defamation per se, false light, trade libel, tortious interference with contract, tortious interference with business relationships, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The plaintiffs sought at least $75,000 in damages.⁵ The case was assigned to Judge Mary M. Rowland.⁴

The plaintiffs’ theory was that the defendants’ public statements had falsely painted Propson as transphobic, falsely accused Braun of unethical conduct and bogus copyright claims, and caused both women financial and professional harm.

What the Court Has Decided

Carter, Vazquez, and Marston moved to strike the complaint under the anti-SLAPP statutes of Georgia and California. Judge Rowland denied those motions with prejudice, holding that state anti-SLAPP laws cannot be applied in federal court because Federal Rules 12 and 56 already govern how the sufficiency of claims is tested.⁴

The substantive turning point came on February 28, 2025, when Judge Rowland ruled on the motions to dismiss and threw out most of the case. All claims against Carter were dismissed, all with prejudice except one tortious interference count dismissed without prejudice for failing to plead that the interference was unjustified. All claims against Vazquez were dismissed with prejudice. All claims against Day were dismissed without prejudice, leaving room to replead. Against Marston, three claims survived — defamation, false light, and trade libel — stemming from a tweet in which she accused Braun of perjury. The court found that accusing a lawyer of a felony is defamatory per se under Illinois law.⁴

On the core transphobia allegations, Judge Rowland held that calling someone “transphobic” or a “TERF” is non-actionable opinion, comparable to calling someone a bigot or a racist. Because Carter had shown the specific posts her opinion was based on, there were no hidden factual implications that could make the statement defamatory.⁶ The court similarly ruled that calling a lawyer “unethical” or a “rogue attorney” who files “false copyright lawsuits” was opinion rather than a provable factual statement.⁴

The plaintiffs then filed a Third Amended Complaint against Day and Marston. On March 13, 2026, Judge Rowland let Counts I through VI proceed, including the defamation per se, false light, and trade libel claims against Marston, finding she had not shown at the pleading stage that her perjury accusation was substantially true. The tortious interference with business relationships count was dismissed as to both Day and Marston, and Carter was formally dismissed from the litigation.⁷ Vazquez had already been terminated from the case in August 2025.⁸

The Separate Copyright Claims Board Case

Braun also pursued a copyright infringement claim against Vazquez and Marston at the Copyright Claims Board, alleging the Do We Know Them podcast had used roughly one minute of an eight-and-a-half-minute TikTok she created without permission. On February 3, 2025, the CCB dismissed the claim with prejudice, finding the podcast’s use was fair use. Options for appeal at the CCB are very limited.⁹

Where Things Stand

The lawsuit is now a narrower dispute than the one filed in 2023. Carter and Vazquez are out. The transphobia and “unethical attorney” theories that drove the original complaint have been rejected as opinion. What remains is a defamation, false light, and trade libel case built around Marston’s perjury tweet, plus surviving claims against Day, all past the pleading stage and headed toward discovery.¹ Braun’s Illinois bar registration shows no public record of discipline or pending proceedings.¹⁰

1
CourtListener. Braun v. Day, Docket
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Carillon Regina. Dealing With Death: Lauren the Mortician
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Photo Stealers. Lauren the Mortician and Copyfraud
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Justia. Braun v. Day, Memorandum Opinion and Order
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Carillon Regina. Courting Death: Lawsuits, Almost Morticians, and Language
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Reason (Volokh Conspiracy). Libel and Allegations of TERFness, DMCA Abuse, and Perjury
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Justia. Braun v. Day, Memorandum Opinion and Order (March 2026)
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CourtListener. Braun v. Day, Party Information
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Plagiarism Today. Do We Know Them Podcasters Win Fair Use CCB Case
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IARDC. Attorney Registration – Jeanette Marie Braun