Vinod Khosla loses round in Martins Beach battle

For 15 years, Indian American billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla has been fighting a legal battle to restrict access to Martins Beach near his home in San Francisco area.

California Superior Court Judge Raymond Swope Saturday denied Khosla’s bid to throw out a lawsuit against him that says he cannot limit access to Martins Beach, a popular surfing spot near San Francisco. Swope’s decision is just the latest setback in Khosla’s years-long saga, Bloomberg reported.

Back in 2008, Khosla bought a home near the beach for an impressive $32.5 million, according to the publication. Shortly thereafter, he built a gate on the road that leads down to the cove, ensuring that the public couldn’t use that access point to get to the beach. Security guards initially patrolled the beach and issued citations to those who violated the “No Trespassing” sign by jumping over the gate.

READ: California court orders billionaire Vinod Khosla to restore public access to the Martins Beach (August 11, 2017)

Lawyers for Khosla say the gate is legal, given that he’s the property owner, but others disagree. The ensuing legal battle made it all the way to the US Supreme Court in 2018, where the justices opted to not take up Khosla’s appeal, letting a lower ruling stand.

That ruling was in favor of the Surfrider Foundation, a nonprofit in California that advocates for the protection of oceans and beaches.

And now the State Lands Commission, a California government agency, is similarly trying to bar Khosla from closing off the beach to the public. It contends that the public has “access rights” to the land given state law and historical use. Swope’s ruling said the agency had given enough support for its claims, Bloomberg noted, and that it could proceed with the case it filed in 2020.

Beach access in California is a hot-button issue, and battles among homeowners and the public have been known to play out for decades. Last year, for example, the public finally gained access to Escondido Beach in Malibu after a 40-year fight. In that case, two homeowners agreed to restore an access point that had been blocked since the 1980s.

READ: Vinod Khosla’s bitter battle to safeguard beach at his $37 million property nears verdict (July 16, 2014)

While the San Francisco issue doesn’t have that sort of history behind it, it’s been dragging on for more than a decade at this point. And depending on what Khosla decides to do, the public could be waiting much longer to get to Martins Beach.

Khosla told Bloomberg the battle was about property rights and a group of people trying to “coerce him” into giving up his private property.

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