Silicon Valley billionaire Vinod Khosla loses bid to end Martins Beach access suit

By Robert Burnson | Bloomberg

Billionaire venture capitalist Vinod Khosla was dealt a new setback in his 15-year fight to block public access through his private property to a popular surfing spot south of San Francisco.

A California state judge issued a tentative ruling Friday denying Khosla’s request to throw out a lawsuit brought by a state agency that says the billionaire has no right to close Martins Beach to the public.

Khosla erected a gate on the road leading down to the crescent-shaped cove after he bought the property around the Pacific beach in 2008 for $32.5 million. His lawyers contend he had the right to do so as the property owner unless he was offered proper compensation. He fought all the way to the US Supreme Court, which refused in 2018 to take up his appeal of a lower-court ruling in favor of the Surfrider Foundation.

In Friday’s tentative ruling, Superior Court Judge Raymond Swope said state officials had provided enough support for their claim of public access to move forward with the case they filed in 2020.

The State Lands Commission seeks a court order barring Khosla from blocking the road to the beach on the grounds that the the public “has acquired access rights” to the land based on historical use and California law.

Khosla can ask the judge to reconsider his ruling at a hearing Monday in Redwood City. His lawyer didn’t immediately respond outside regular business hours to a request for comment.

The case is California State Lands Commission v. Martins Beach 1, California Superior Court, County of San Mateo (Redwood City).

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