Silicon Valley billionaire fighting to keep public off secluded beach after buying 89-acre coastal property for $32.5 million loses bid to end lawsuit

A Silicon Valley billionaire who has been fighting for more than a decade to keep a secluded beach to himself next to his 89-acre, $32.5 million property 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 Lands Commission and Coastal Commission seeks a court order demanding that Vinod Khosla remove all gates and signs on or near the only road to the beach that runs through his private property.

A California state judge tentatively denied Khosla's request to have the suit thrown out in a ruling Friday. 

That means a pretrial conference for Khosla - a venture capitalist who co-founded the Silicon Valley technology company Sun Microsystems - would be set to move ahead for March 2025, and the bench trial will 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 were between $6,600 and $100,000, according to SFGate.

A Silicon Valley billionaire who has been fighting for more than a decade to keep a secluded beach to himself next to his 89-acre, $32.5 million property 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 Lands Commission and Coastal Commission seeks a court order demanding that Vinod Khosla remove all gates and signs on or near the only road to the beach that runs through his private property

State Supreme Court Judge Raymond Swope determined the state had effectively backed up their claim that Khosla was preventing public access to go forward.

The lawsuit contends that without court orders, Khosla will keep imposing improper restrictions to public access to Martins Beach near Half Moon Bay, about 35 miles south of San Francisco. 

Khosla can appeal Swope's judgement at a Monday hearing in Redwood City, Bloomberg reported.

Attorney Dori Yob Kilmer has vowed to fight the latest lawsuit in the past.

'Since the property was purchased by our client, the state, and small activist groups, have endeavored to seize our client´s private property without compensation,' she said in a 2020 statement. 

'While such tactics are commonplace in communist systems, they have never been tolerated in the American system where the U.S. Constitution precludes the government from simply taking private property and giving it to the public.'

The dispute is one of several in California over who is allowed to use the coastline, which is often accessed through neighborhoods and private property. 

The state Constitution guarantees public access to all beaches below the high tide line.

State Supreme Court Judge Raymond Swope determined the state had effectively backed up their claim that Khosla was preventing public access to go forward

The previous owners of Martin's Beach had allowed public access to the beach, charging a parking fee and operating other conveniences to generate money from the popular destination. 

Khosla's attorneys said the cost to maintain the beach and other facilities far exceeded the money the fees brought in.

The nonprofit Surfrider Foundation sued, and a state appeals court ruled that Khosla needed to apply for a coastal development permit before closing off the main road.

After the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal in 2018, Khosla continued to sue over what he considers to be interference with his property rights. 

In the meantime, his lawyer said he kept the road open during daylight hours to paying visitors. State officials say the gate to the road has not been consistently open.

The lawsuit by the state agencies 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.'

'For as far back as can be historically documented, the public has used and treated the beach as a public beach, and the previous owners knew of that public use and did not interfere with such use,' the lawsuit said.

Khosla bought the luxury property and adjoining road that leads to Martin's Beach in San Mateo County, California, in 2008. 

The lawsuit contends that without court orders, Khosla will keep imposing improper restrictions to public access to Martins Beach near Half Moon Bay, about 35 miles south of San Francisco

Khosla can appeal Swope's judgement at a Monday hearing in Redwood City, Bloomberg reported

The billionaire, who owns the road but not the beach itself, claimed he simply wanted to establish that he cannot be forced to allow people on his property.

In California, unlike in many other states, all beaches are open to the public under the constitution.

But private landowners are not always required to allow access to the coastline across their properties.