The maker of the party game Cards Against Humanity has sued Elon Musk’s SpaceX accusing it of trespassing on and damaging company-owned property in Texas.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Texas court, asks for $15 million to cover damages including what the company calls the destruction of natural vegetation.
The dispute involves a plot of vacant land near Brownsville, Texas, far from the Cards Against Humanity corporate headquarters in Chicago. The game maker bought the land in 2017 in what it said was a stunt to obstruct the plan by then-President Donald Trump to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. No wall was ever built on the property, where the company keeps a “No Trespassing” sign, according to the company.
But the land is near SpaceX’s operations, known as Starbase, and 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.
“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.
Cards Against Humanity said it bought the land after 150,000 people each paid $15 toward a crowdfunding effort. The “politically incorrect” card game also got its start with crowdfunding in 2010. The company said that if it succeeds in the lawsuit, it will pass any money received onto the original 150,000 donors, up to $100 a person.
SpaceX, which launches rockets from the area, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. Musk, the CEO, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Musk has been systematically moving many of his business operations to Texas, including for his companies SpaceX, Tesla and X.
Cards Against Humanity complained to SpaceX about the alleged trespassing and damage, according to a website the game maker set up devoted to the lawsuit. The company said SpaceX responded with a “lowball offer” to buy the land “for less than half” its value, with a 12-hour deadline to accept. Cards Against Humanity said it rejected the offer.
The company also said it would “accept Twitter.com as compensation,” referring to the social media app Musk bought in 2022 and renamed X.
The lawsuit was first reported by Reuters, which also relayed complaints from other neighbors about the swift development around Starbase.
The lawsuit includes what it says are before-and-after photographs of the Cards Against Humanity land, with grasses and cacti from before the alleged SpaceX intrusion and construction equipment and material after the alleged trespassing.
SpaceX has found enormous demand for its 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.
But the rocket company has also been at the center of controversy 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 facility is near the mouth of the Rio Grande, on the Gulf of Mexico.
