That beach is not your property: US court rules against billionaire Vinod Khosla

Silicon-valley investor and Indian-American billionaire Vinod Khosla’s has found no relief from a US court, in a battle against the people of California over access to a beach. According to a CBSLocal report , the court ruled that “Khosla’s failure to obtain a Coastal Development Permit before he closed off the only access road to the beach in 2011 was illegal.”

The beach in contention was the popular Martin Beach and had been open the public for the last 100 years, adds the report. So how did this legal battle start in the first place? Khosla bought the land adjacent to the beach and then shut off access for all as the only route to enter the beach went through his private property.

Then it was reported by SF Gate that lobbyists hired by Khosla claimed that “Martin’s beach is private property, including the sandy beach and the submerged tidelands seaward of the mean high tide. There are no existing ‘public’ lands to which access is needed.”

His opponents had contended that Khosla’s demand of disallowing the public from the beach goes against the state’s constitution. The issue snowballed into a legal tiff after Khosla erected gates preventing people from accessing the beach.

The billionaire faced legal action from the Surfrider Foundation who sued him over blocking access to the beach. Khosla’s line in the sand it seems was not good enough to convince the court who ruled in favour of group.

“Today’s decision is a huge victory for all of the people of California. It affirms that great wealth cannot be used to circumvent and ignore the law. Everyone can again visit Martin’s Beach,” said attorney Joe Cotchett, who represented the plaintiffs according to the CBS report.

Khosla’s team has said that they were disappointed with judgement and will consider appealing.