Cards Against Humanity sued SpaceX for allegedly trespassing on and damaging its property in Texas. The company behind the card game is asking for $15 million in damages, according to its complaint against SpaceX, filed in Texas state court on Thursday, but has also said it will “accept Twitter.com in compensation.”
SpaceX has been using the “pristine vacant property” in Cameron County, Texas, without permission for around six months, the suit claims. Cards Against Humanity bought the plot in 2017 as part of a stunt to “make it as time-consuming and expensive as possible for [former President Donald] Trump to build his wall.” SpaceX has since acquired “many of the vacant lots” on the road surrounding Cards Against Humanity’s property, the complaint claims, and started building “large modern-looking buildings, changing the entire dynamic of the area” — and damaging Cards Against Humanity’s land in the process.
As part of the construction process, SpaceX has cleared vegetation, compacted the soil so employees and contractors could park, and brought in generators to run equipment and lights. These actions, the complaint claims, have not only damaged the property but also hurt Cards Against Humanity’s relationship with its customers.
Cards Against Humanity’s 2017 purchase of the land was a crowdfunded effort, with 150,000 supporters chipping in $15 each, the suit says, and is indicative of the company’s broader relationship with its customers and supporters. “Part of CAH’s method to maintain this supporter relationship — and ongoing trust that they will continue to stand up against injustice — is the use of humorous ‘pranks’ or ‘stunts’ that draw attention to particular issues or people who ignore the rights and problems of regular people for their own personal enrichment or aggrandizement,” the complaint says. But SpaceX’s alleged trespassing on Cards Against Humanity’s property has damaged the company’s “most precious asset in the form of its current relationship and the prospective relationship in the future” with its customers by “creating the impression that there is some association between CAH and SpaceX.”
Other reports suggest that Cards Against Humanity isn’t the only neighbor with whom SpaceX has a troubled relationship. Reuters, which first reported the lawsuit, spoke with residents of Boca Chica — a small, remote village SpaceX has attempted to rechristen Starbase — who said SpaceX workers tore down a sign and removed a statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe in the town. One Boca Chica resident told Reuters that SpaceX offered to buy her two homes for $340,000.
Cards Against Humanity claims SpaceX also offered to buy Cameron County property. “Elon Musk’s SpaceX was building some space thing nearby, and he figured he could just dump all his shit all over our gorgeous plot of land without asking,” the company wrote on a website announcing its lawsuit. “After we caught him, SpaceX gave us a 12-hour ultimatum to accept a lowball offer for less than half our land’s value. We said, ‘Go fuck yourself, Elon Musk. We’ll see you in court.’”