A year after suing SpaceX for “invading” a plot of land on the US/Mexico border, Cards Against Humanity says it has obtained a settlement and will provide supporters with a new pack of cards about Elon Musk.
The party-game company bought the land in 2017 in an attempt to stymie President Trump’s wall-building project, but alleged that SpaceX illegally took over the land and filled it with construction equipment and materials. A September 2024 lawsuit filed against SpaceX in Cameron County District Court in Texas sought up to $15 million to cover the cost of restoring the property and other damages.
Cards Against Humanity, which bought the property with donations from supporters, told Ars today that “we’ve been in negotiations with SpaceX for much of the last year. We held out for the best settlement we could get—almost until the trial was supposed to start—and unfortunately part of that negotiation was that we’re not allowed to discuss specific settlement terms. They did admit to trespassing during the discovery phase, which was very validating.”
An Associated Press article yesterday said that “Texas court records show a settlement was reached in the case last month, just weeks before a jury trial was scheduled to begin on Nov. 3.”
The game company said a victory at trial wouldn’t have resulted in a better outcome. “A trial would have cost more than what we were likely to win from SpaceX,” the company’s statement to Ars said. “Under Texas law, even if we had won at trial (and we would have, given their admission to trespassing), we likely wouldn’t have been able to recoup our legal fees. And SpaceX certainly seemed ready to dramatically outspend us on lawyers.”
“They packed up the space garbage”
The company also provided this update to donors:
Dear Horrible Friends,
Remember last year, when we sued Elon Musk for dumping space garbage all over your land, and then you signed up to collect your share of the proceeds? Also, remember how we warned you that we’d “probably only be able to get you like two dollars or most likely nothing”?
Well, Elon Musk’s team admitted on the record that they illegally trespassed on your land, and then they packed up the space garbage and fucked off. But when it comes to paying you all, he did the legal equivalent of throwing dust in our eyes and kicking us in the balls.
Instead of money, Cards Against Humanity said it will provide its “best, sexiest customers” with a comedic “mini-pack of exclusive cards all about Elon Musk” that can be obtained via this sign-up link. “P.S. Soon, the land will be returned to its natural state: no space garbage, and still completely free of pointless fucking border walls,” the company said.
In 2017, a Cards Against Humanity campaign against the border wall received $15 donations from 150,000 people. Part of the money went toward buying the plot of vacant land with the goal to “make it as time-consuming and expensive as possible for Trump to build his wall.”
The lawsuit said SpaceX acquired many of the nearby vacant lots and then took over the Cards Against Humanity land. “SpaceX and/or its contractors entered the Property and, after erecting posts to mark the property line, proceeded to ignore any distinction based upon property ownership,” the lawsuit said. “The site was cleared of vegetation, and the soil was compacted with gravel or other substance to allow SpaceX and its contractors to run and park its vehicles all over the Property.”
SpaceX also brought in generators to run equipment and deposited “an enormous mount of gravel,” the lawsuit said. In its statement today, Cards Against Humanity said that “SpaceX has removed their construction equipment from our land and we’re able to work with a local landscaping company to restore the land to its natural state: devoid of space garbage and pointless border walls.”
The statement added that Cards Against Humanity is “happy to have stood up to a bully like Musk” and “happy to have forced a settlement. We’re happy they admitted to trespassing on our land. Were we hoping to be able to pay all our fans? Sure. But we did warn them they would ‘probably only be able to get like $2 or most likely nothing.'”
We contacted SpaceX and will update this article if it provides comment.
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