A Silicon Valley billionaire who has been fighting for more than a decade to maintain a secluded beach next to his 89-acre, $32.5 million property has lost his bid to stop a lawsuit to try to allow the public to return. .
The lawsuit filed in 2020 on behalf of the California State Land Commission and the Coastal Commission seeks a court order requiring Vinod Khosla to remove all gates and signs on or near the only beach path that runs through his private property.
A California state judge tentatively denied Khosla’s request to have the lawsuit dismissed in a ruling Friday.
That means a pretrial conference for Khosla, a venture capitalist who co-founded Silicon Valley technology company Sun Microsystems, would be held in March 2025, and the trial would begin on April 22, 2025.
Khosla – who has a net worth of $7.5 billion, per Forbes – reportedly hosted a fundraiser with President Joe Biden last week where tickets cost between $6,600 and $100,000, according to SF Gate.
A Silicon Valley billionaire who has been fighting for more than a decade to maintain a secluded beach next to his 89-acre, $32.5 million property has lost his bid to stop a lawsuit to try to allow the public to return. .
The lawsuit filed in 2020 on behalf of the California State Land Commission and the Coastal Commission seeks a court order requiring Vinod Khosla to remove all gates and signs on or near the only path to the beach that runs through his private property.
State Supreme Court Justice Raymond Swope found that the state had effectively supported its claim that Khosla was preventing public access from moving forward.
The lawsuit contends that without court orders, Khosla will continue to impose improper restrictions on public access to Martins Beach near Half Moon Bay, about 35 miles south of San Francisco.
Khosla can appeal Swope’s sentence at a hearing Monday in Redwood City. Bloomberg reported.
Attorney Dori Yob Kilmer has vowed to fight the latest lawsuit in the past.
“Since our client purchased the property, the State and small groups of activists have worked to confiscate our client’s private property without compensation,” he said in a 2020 statement.
“While such tactics are common in communist systems, they have never been tolerated in the American system, where the US Constitution prevents the government from simply taking private property and giving it to the public.”
The dispute is one of several in California over who can use the coast, which is often accessed through neighborhoods and private properties.
The state Constitution guarantees public access to all beaches below the high tide line.
State Supreme Court Justice Raymond Swope found that the state had effectively supported its claim that Khosla was preventing public access from moving forward.
The previous owners of Martin’s Beach had allowed public access to the beach, charging a parking fee and operating other amenities to generate money at the popular destination.
Khosla’s lawyers said the cost of maintaining the beach and other facilities far exceeded the money generated by the fees.
The nonprofit Surfrider Foundation sued, and a state appeals court ruled that Khosla needed to apply for a coastal development permit before closing the main road.
After the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal in 2018, Khosla continued to sue for what he sees as interference with his property rights.
Meanwhile, his lawyer said he kept the road open during the day for paying visitors. State officials say the highway gate has not been open consistently.
The state agencies’ lawsuit contends that because the beach has been used by the public for more than a century, it has acquired access rights under a common law doctrine known as ‘implied dedication.’
“To the extent that can be historically documented, the public has used and treated the beach as a public beach, and the previous owners were aware of that public use and did not interfere with such use,” the lawsuit says.
Khosla purchased the luxury property and the adjoining road leading to Martin’s Beach in San Mateo County, California, in 2008.
The lawsuit contends that without court orders, Khosla will continue to impose improper restrictions on public access to Martins Beach near Half Moon Bay, about 35 miles south of San Francisco.
Khosla can appeal Swope’s sentence at a hearing Monday in Redwood City, Bloomberg reported.
The billionaire, who owns the road but not the beach itself, said he simply wanted to make it clear that he cannot be forced to allow people onto his property.
In California, unlike many other states, all beaches are open to the public according to the constitution.
But private landowners are not always required to allow shoreline access through their properties.