Buckle up, friends; the Damon Motors story is taking yet another strange turn, and it's one that requires a direct faceplant into recent court filings in order to properly tell.
Let me set the stage. On September 30, 2025, EV motorcycle firm Damon Motors issued its most recent press release, which simultaneously announced its most recent financial results while also seeking additional funding to "advance its personal mobility products and AI-enabled connected vehicle strategy."
However, just prior to the issuance of that press release, something else was going on behind the scenes. We know this because of a dated court document, which was officially filed and recognized in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Canada on September 4, 2025. What was the document in question, you might understandably wonder? It was a notice of a civil claim, filed by the plaintiff Moz Holdings Canada, against Damon Motors.
If the Internet greatly impacts your day-to-day business, you're probably familiar with Moz, and I'm here to tell you that it's exactly the company that you're thinking it is. But if you are familiar with it, you're probably also expecting me to tell you that the lawsuit is something to do with the business that Moz is most famous for: SEO marketing.
It's not. Instead, it's something that is simultaneously more mundane and stranger than you might expect. It's all about rent.
Damon and Moz Both Call Vancouver, BC, Canada Home
Our story starts with Vancouver, British Columbia, which is inarguably a beautiful place on the western coast of Canada. With great natural beauty and stunning views comes great desirability, and also, great expense. Real estate and rental giant Zillow currently shows average rent in Vancouver as costing $2,980 a month at the time of writing, and that's apparently a decrease of $220 over this time last year.
According to the civil claim filed by Moz against Damon Motors, the complaint involves Units 704 and 714 on Alexander Street, Vancouver, British Columbia. At the time of writing, you can still find Damon Motors, Inc. listing its address at 704 Alexander Street in Vancouver, BC, Canada on the company's Privacy Policy page.
What The Complaint Is About
To summarize, Moz Holdings says that it sublet Units 704 and 714 Alexander Street in Vancouver, BC to Damon Motors on or around May 7, 2021. Moz further claims that the rental term agreed to was to last for four years and nine months, from September 1, 2021 through May 30, 2026.
Under the terms of this sublease, Unit 704 measured approximately 9,478 square feet, while Unit 714 measured approximately 6,229 square feet. Rents for each were broken down into rows by year, with rental amounts rising slightly each year. Columns further broke down the rents for each unit, both by monthly cost and by amount per square foot of property being rented.
If you want the TL;DR version with slightly less detail, monthly rent for Unit 704 ranged from just under $17,000 per month to just under $20K per month over the term of the sublease, according to the claim filed by Moz. Meanwhile, monthly rent for Unit 714 ranged from just over $10K/month to just under $12K per month over the agreed-upon rental period.
These amounts did not include property taxes and other operating expenses, which were to be billed separately.
As of September 4, 2025, Moz Holdings' claim seeks relief from the Supreme Court of British Columbia in the form of $376,527.47 in back rent, up to and including the amount for September 2025.
Attached to this Claim is a schedule filed by Moz that breaks down invoiced amounts to Damon (payments due), as well as payments it says it received from Damon. It also includes a running balance of funds it claims are due to it by Damon over part of the term of the sublease period, running from January 2024 to the present.
The records submitted by Moz along with its complaint do show that Damon made some payments. However, they were at best irregular, and in most cases, not for the entire amount due at the time that it was due.
What Does Damon Have to Say?
At the time of writing, Damon Motors has so far not yet filed a counterclaim in response to Moz Holding's claim. According to the Supreme Court of British Columbia's established rules, there is a deadline by which those served with a claim (like Damon) must respond, if they intend to respond.
The BC rules differ based on the location of the person or entity being served with a notice of a civil claim. If they are in Canada, they have 21 days to respond. BC law does not make any mention of "business days," or any similar terminology; it simply says "21 days," which we take to mean 'calendar days.'
However, BC law states that if a person is served anywhere in the United States, they have 35 days after that service to respond. Finally, if they're served anywhere else, they have 49 days to respond.
If you don't respond in time, the Notice of Civil Claim language plainly states that "JUDGMENT MAY BE PRONOUNCED AGAINST YOU IF YOU FAIL to file the response to civil claim within the time for response to civil claim described below." Those timings then spell out what I've written out for you above.
RideApart has also reached out to Damon Motors for comment, but did not hear back at the time of writing. We will update this post if and when we receive a response.
Has the Deadline Passed?
First, let's talk about the methods that British Columbian law deems acceptable for serving court documents to affected parties. Registered postal mail is frequently used, although e-mail addresses are also deemed acceptable according to current BC rules.
It's worth noting here that Canada Post went on strike as of September 26, 2025. At the time of writing, Canada Post is still on strike, and it's not clear when it will return to normal service. This would, of course, impact mail service, including Registered Mail service.
It's not clear how BC law responds to extenuating circumstances such as these, although certainly there must be mechanisms in place. However, it's equally unclear whether this would even matter, if service of court documents via e-mail is also used.
In any case, Damon Motors has facilities both in Vancouver and in California, which raises the possibility of the deadline for response being either 21 days or 35 days after service of the Notice of Civil Claim. While the date it was filed with the Supreme Court of British Columbia was September 4, 2025, it's not clear what the date of service is (or was).
If the date of service was also September 4, or around that date, then the deadline may be quite close. However, the exact deadline is not clear.
What we can say for certain is that, as of September 30, 2025, a response to the initial claim has not yet been filed according to the Supreme Court of British Columbia's records.
Where Did All The Money Go?
To be absolutely clear, just because a lawsuit has been filed doesn't automatically mean the plaintiff's complaint is absolutely, 100% percent true. It doesn't mean that it's false, either; it simply means that the plaintiff has filed a lawsuit against a defendant. It is then up to both sides to argue their case in court, according to established legal rules and usually with legal counsel present to argue and/or defend as deemed appropriate.
But if these allegations are true, and if Damon Motors is found to not have paid its rent on its main operating facilities in Vancouver for years, one can't help but wonder where all the money it's been raising has gone. While the company has long said that its preorders are fully refundable, the same isn't necessarily the case for other types of funding that it's done, as a tech startup firm.
Motorcycles have not, as yet, been rolling out to customers. Patent filings cost some amount of money, and it's true that Damon and people associated with the company have made a number of patent filings over the past few years. Likewise, employees cost money, unless you're only hiring unpaid interns. So presumably, at least some money went to paying the company's employees.
Just how many employees does it have? According to Damon's September 30, 2025 SEC 10-K filing, there are currently 13 employees. Not 130, not 13,000; thirteen.
Some undisclosed amount of money must also have been spent for Damon to acquire Grafiti Holding, Inc back at the end of 2024. According to Damon's September 30, 2025 SEC 10-K report, the Damon subsidiary Grafiti Limited "generates revenue from providing scientific software products and services." There's a lot more information on Grafiti Limited's scientific software products and services included in that report, which I won't get into here, as it's a bit more than just a minor tangent.
Of more immediate relevance to this lawsuit, however, is another bit included in that SEC 10-K report. It reads, "Our principal executive offices are located at 4601 Canada Way, Suite #402, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, V5G 4X7. Our telephone number is [XXX-XXX-XXXX]. Our website address is https://damon.com/. The information contained on, or that can be accessed through, our website is not incorporated by reference in this report and should not be considered to be part of this report."
You'll note that this address is a completely different one from the ones referenced in this back-rent lawsuit, as well as the one currently noted on Damon's website, which we posted a screenshot of earlier in this piece.
How will any or all of this shake out? Watch this space.
