Cards Against Humanity deals SpaceX a $15M lawsuit over Texas turf tangle Elon Musk is facing down the barrel of another multimillion-dollar suit, this time from the makers of irreverent party game Cards Against Humanity (CAH). The game's creators sued [PDF] SpaceX last week, and not because Musk's antics are moving faster than the company's writers can keep up. The lawsuit, which seeks for as much …
So if someone dumps a bunch of stuff on your land, then can you simply take it, place it in storage somewhere and send them a bill for the costs of moving it, storing it, and of course, time and damages involved in the proceedings? Maybe you need to send a nice letter first, but after that, there must be some sort of action you can take?
I'll hand over to those more versed in the legal wilds of the wild west... (of the USA)
Not really; at least, that is not what is being alleged. It's trespass, unjust enrichment and tortious interference.
Even it it was involuntary bailment (a UK thing), the bailee could easily establish a legal framework for ownership by serving notice, setting a reasonable arrangement for collection, and posting a schedule. After this they can claim the goods are abandoned and dispose of them as they wish. The only thing they can't (legally or easily) do is sell them for profit; then all profits less costs would be owed to SpaceX.
> "For however long it takes, we are ready for a protracted resistance to any attempts by the government to build a wall on this land," CAH's lawyers said in 2017.
I get that it's a stunt, but if the wall was built apart from across this one piece of land, they would be overrun by 100k+ illegal immigrants per month. At least the authorities would know where to catch them I guess. They would be doing border services a favour.
Plus it doesn't run the full length of the US-Mexico border, likely never will, leaving other large and hard-to-defend gaps right in the middle of nowhere. Most walls and border fences etc are near towns since that's where most migrants want to cross the border rather than going 20-100 miles into the middle of nowhere to cross.
A rather large share of undocumented immigrants enters by arriving legally as tourists or short-term visitors and simply not leaving. Some even take jobs.
Take, for instance, an Englishman who was supposed to change planes in Los Angeles en route home from a holiday in Mexico. Star-struck, he didn't get on the plane, stayed in L.A., talked his way into the production system, and eventually became a producer. Mark Burnett couldn't get Warren Buffet to do it so he hired Donald Trump to star in The Apprentice.
And take, for instance, a Slovenian model who had a short-term visa but stayed on, working, undocumented. But eventually Melania Knavs hooked up with you know who and became his third wife.
I don't know about the USA, but here in the UK there is a distinction between civil and criminal law. In the UK trespass is a civil offence, and oddly, it is not a criminal offence to dump 'stuff' on someone else's land (a lady once had to pay thousands of funds to get rubbish removed form her property's driveway after some fly tippers literally blocked it. But, holding on to someone else's property may constitute 'intent to permanently deprive', which is theft, a criminal offence. The law is often complicated and obscure and provides a comfortable living for many, many lawyers. CAH probably could get a court order banning any person trespassing on their property until the matter is resolved. That would firstly prevent anyone using the materials, and secondly, breach of the order would be contempt of court, which can get you into a lot of trouble.
The only certain thing is that the lawyers will make money out of this.
Taking away someone else's property that they have left on your land to have quiet enjoyment of your land, however, is abating a nuisance, which right comes to you as tenant of the land.
If they ask for it back and you don't give it, that's theft, but you're entitled for them to defray your costs for removal and storage before it comes to that.
I'm fortunate enough to live somewhere where dumping rubbish on private land is also an offense.
Often, it's a requirement when applying for a building permit that notices are sent to the neighbors within a certain radius whereupon they can comment on the proposed building/use. Is SpaceX filing for building permits? They usually don't which might mean that they could be required to remove any structures and start from square one properly the next time. It shouldn't be too much of a problem to get an attorney to take on the case either pro bono for the notoriety or on contingency. If I was using the property next to me for storage/staging, the owner (who is in tax default) could require me to remove my property and repair any damage to his lot at the very least. A judge may not be willing to grant back rent depending on the circumstances. "Damage" might even be a bit of a stretch if I've only disturbed the soil a bit and rubbed off some scrub brush.
If CAH doesn't do anything, there's a thing called "adverse possession" that comes into play after a certain number of years where SpaceX could just claim the land. It's not a simple process and given the notoriety, may not be possible in this case.
Buying the land to block the government from putting up a border wall was not going to work. While they don't have to sell out to Elon for any money, government could take the property under eminent domain and pay them a fair price (they decide what's fair) with no options.
government could take the property under eminent domain
The problem with that is that this is far from the only piece of privately owned land along the border. A lot of ranchers, even those who support Trump, said they have no intention of allowing a wall to be built on their property and would fight hard against any attempt to take land that has been in their family since before Texas was a state via eminent domain. So even if they took this little bit under eminent domain, they'd have a lot bigger political problems trying to take the rest because most of it is held not by out of state liberals who bought it as a way to piss off Trump but longtime Texans.
The bigger problem is that it is IMPOSSIBLE to build a wall along about half the Texas border, because of the Rio Grande, due to regular flooding. They'd have to drive the foundation of the wall down into the sandy soil so far it would cost 10x as much per mile. It would also prevent ranchers who use the river for their livestock from accessing it, and cause environmental issues like preventing migrations and making flooding worse on the Mexican side of the border (not that Trump or his cronies give a shit about the environment)
Obviously, US law applies in this case, so the following may be irrelevant, but in the UK, you can cut back a neighbour's tree if it overhangs your property, but you are suppose to return the cutting, since it remains the property of your neighbour. A plant growing on your property is your property, so removing it ('clearing brush and small trees') would be theft (criminal offense).
I'm wondering if there were any signs put up, on the boundaries of the CAH parcel of land denoting who the legal own was?
At least then, one could surmise that whoever dumped the spacex garbage, would then know that the land was owned and not waste land. And hence CAH might have more of a case if such notice was ignored or even disposed of, if the dumpers claimed they never saw such a sign?
Of course, now, CAH might have to employ security to watch over their land to prevent further dumpings and to perhaps find out who the people were?
"This isn't the 18th century - waste land (terra nullius) which anyone can do whatever they want with is not a thing."
In the US, it's in law that all land belongs to somebody so there isn't any "free" land to be had. That somebody is often government when it comes to vacant land. There's even a little bit of land open for homesteading, but not much and it's not great land to start with so good luck. To perfect the homestead, a certain amount of improvement must be done.
"Unfortunately, an even richer, more racist billionaire – Elon Musk – snuck up on us from behind and completely fucked that land with gravel, tractors, and space garbage,"
So assho$%'s calling others assho$%'s. Good way to make your case numb nuts.
Did you bother calling the Sheriff for illegal dumping? Trespass? Illegal seizure? All criminal offenses. Given the arrogance of both parties, I think not.
Interestingly there is a parcel of land in the middle of starship factory in boca chica where the owner wouldn't sell to SpaceX. It was crazy,. SpaceX basically built the factory around this plot. The case ended up in court as SpaceX said a sale had been agreed. In the end it sold for $3.25m for a plot a 100m square.
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