SpaceX has settled a lawsuit brought by the maker of the popular party game Cards Against Humanity over accusations that Elon Musk’s rocket company trespassed on and damaged land the card company owned in Texas.
Texas court records show a settlement in the case was reached last month, just weeks before the jury trial was scheduled to begin on Nov. 3. The card manufacturer said in a statement Monday that it could not disclose the terms, and SpaceX did not return emails and phone messages left with the company and its Texas attorney seeking comment.
Cards Against Humanity, originally headquartered in Chicago I bought the plot of land in 2017 As part of what she said was a ploy to oppose President Donald Trump’s efforts to build a border wall.
Cards Against Humanity alleges in its lawsuit that SpaceX essentially treated the game company’s property — located in Cameron County in far south Texas — as its own for at least six months.
SpaceX, which previously acquired other parcels of land near the property, placed construction materials, such as gravel and other debris on the land without seeking permission to do so, the lawsuit said.
Cards Against Humanity said in an email Monday to The Associated Press that SpaceX admitted during the discovery phase of the case to trespassing on its property. The company said the experiment “would have cost more than what we were likely to win from SpaceX.”
“The upside is that SpaceX has removed its construction equipment from our land and we are able to work with a local landscaping company to return the land to its natural state: free of space junk and meaningless boundary walls.”
The company previously said that 150,000 people each contributed $15 to help buy the land in Texas, and that they hoped to repay those donors with settlement proceeds.
Over the years, Cards Against Humanity says the land has been preserved in its natural state. She also says she displayed a “No Trespassing” sign to warn people they were about to enter private property.
The company was demanding $15 million in compensation, which it said included the loss of vegetation on the ground.
“We were hoping to be able to pay all our fans? Absolutely. But we warned them they would probably only be able to get $2 or more likely nothing,” the company said.