Late in December, the attorneys for Metallica sent a Cease and Desist letter to Sandman. a Metallica tribute band playing in Toronto.  Sandman lead, Joe Di Taranto, posted a copy of the letter on his Facebook page:

After the letter gained some attention, Metallica responded with supportive statements blaming lawyers and directing Sandman to “file the letter in the trash.”  Saying that “neither we nor our management were aware of” the letter until it surfaced online, Metallica said “Lucky for us, [Sandman] was kind enough to post it for us to see, and it turns out that we have a very overzealous attorney who sent this letter without our knowledge.”  Metallica added that “in the meantime, our attorney can be found at [San Francisco airport] catching a flight to go permanently ice fishing in Alaska.”

The sending of a cease and desist letter is a serious matter, whose consequences should be thoroughly reviewed among counsel and client.