Cards Against Humanity has accused Elon Musk’s SpaceX of trespassing on and damaging company-owned land in Texas (Picture: Jim Watson/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
The maker of the adult party game Cards Against Humanity is suing Elon Musk’s spacecraft manufacturer SpaceX for allegedly trespassing on and damaging company-owned property in Texas.
Cards Against Humanity filed the lawsuit on Thursday, and is asking for $15 million.
The land in question is a vacant plot near Brownsville, Texas.
It is far from Cards Against Humanity’s headquarters in Chicago, but it is close to SpaceX’s headquarters, known as Starbase.
According to the lawsuit, SpaceX has been using the land without permission for about six months as a staging area for construction: clearing vegetation, parking vehicles, storing gravel and running generators.
Cards Against Humanity bought the land in 2017 as a part of a ploy to prevent the then President Donald Trump from building a wall along the US-Mexico border to keep migrants out.
Cards Against Humanity bought the land as a stunt to stop Donald Trump from building a wall along the US-Mexico border
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The company says that it bought the land after 150,000 people each paid $15 toward a crowdfunding effort.
They have said that if the lawsuit is successful, they will give to money to the 150,000 donors, with each person receiving up to $100.
‘CAH acquired the Property for the sole purpose of ensuring that it would stay that way,’ the lawsuit says.
‘SpaceX’s abuse of this Property has not only destroyed its natural condition, but has also caused even greater harm to CAH by virtue of the damage it has caused to CAH’s relationship with its paying supporters,’ it says.
Musk has moved many of his business operations to Texas, including X, Tesla and SpaceX.
The company said SpaceX responded to their complaints with an to buy the land for less than half its value, and gave them 12 hours to accept the deal. Cards Against Humanity said it rejected the offer.
Cards Against Humanity has accused SpaceX of using the land without permission for about six months as a staging area for construction: clearing vegetation, parking vehicles, storing gravel and running generators.
(Picture: AFP or licensors)
Cards Against Humanity also said it would accept Twitter.com as compensation, referring to the social media app Musk bought in 2022 and renamed X.
The lawsuit includes what it says are before-and-after photographs of the land, with grasses and cacti from before the alleged SpaceX intrusion and construction equipment and material after the alleged trespassing.
There is huge demand for SpaceX’s rockets and satellite-launch service. This month it sent four private citizens on a historic mission 870 miles above Earth’s surface, the highest humans have reached since 1972, and earlier this year, it successfully launched its Starship megarocket to orbit and back.
However, SpaceX has also been caught up in controversies over its reliance on government contracts and dominance of the market. SpaceX has an estimated 80% of the space launch market and it continues to sign new U.S. government contracts.
SpaceX has also violated environmental regulations at its Texas launch facility by repeatedly releasing pollutants into or near bodies of water, a state agency said last month, according to CNBC.
The lawsuit brought by Cards Against Humanity was first reported by Reuters.
SpaceX has been contacted for comment.
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