xAI Offers to Buy Southaven Homes for Lawsuit Release Over Turbine Noise
FOX13 Memphis reported Oct. 28 that xAI unit MZX Tech will buy Southaven homes from owners who release all claims, as a noise suit over 69 turbines heads to an Oct. 29 court conference.
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The buyout offer comes with a lawsuit release; figures are as reported by FOX13 Memphis and DeSoto Times.
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xAI is offering to buy homes in Southaven, Mississippi, through its subsidiary MZX Tech LLC, if owners sign a release of all claims tied to a noise lawsuit over its gas-turbine plant, FOX13 Memphis reported on Oct. 28.
The notice went to homeowners inside a boundary running from Nail Road in the south to Stateline Road West in the north, and Highway 51 in the east to about 1 mile west of Horn Lake Road. It says MZX "denies all of the allegations" but "requires property for its business purposes," according to FOX13. Local outlets call the parent company SpaceXAI.
Sellers would give up any recovery from the pending case, known as the Haley lawsuit, and could not bring claims of their own later, the letter states. The offer is voluntary, and the notice links residents to the lawsuit and to the lawyers who filed it.
What the lawsuit alleges
Three residents, Jason Haley, Preston Herrington and Taylor Logsdon, sued in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, DeSoto Times reported. They cite headaches, lost sleep and lower property values from turbine noise, and say xAI's mitigation has fallen short. The suit lists five claims, including negligent infliction of emotional distress, according to FOX13.
The Oct 28 buyout offer comes ahead of the Oct 29 conference on class status, according to FOX13 Memphis and DeSoto Times.
Illustration (AI-generated)
DeSoto Times said noise readings reached up to 70 dB and that about 10,000 people live in the affected area and could join a class action. It put the number of turbines on the site at 69, and noted that the NAACP sued xAI in April over running more turbines than its permit allows. A first conference was set for Oct. 29 in Oxford, where the court is to decide whether the case can proceed as a class action.
Why the buyout matters for the site
The Southaven turbines are a gas-fired power plant, and noise is the cost of running it that lands on the nearest streets. Each home xAI buys with a release attached removes a potential plaintiff from a pool that DeSoto Times put at about 10,000 residents, so the offer bears directly on how large any class could become.
The offer also sits alongside Voltgrid's earlier coverage of the same sites: a $6.1 million stormwater claim at the Southaven sites, and a 135-day Memphis pause on data centers approved Oct. 20, a city where xAI's operations are also under local scrutiny.
What is not confirmed yet
xAI has not disclosed how many homes it wants, the prices offered, or how many owners have accepted. The Oct. 29 conference does not decide the merits of the noise claims, and the court has not ruled on class status.
