Silicon Valley billionaire fights to block the public from accessing the beach his $32m mansion sits along because he says it's a violation of his constitutional right
- Billionaire co-founder of Sun Microsystems, Vinod Khosla, is in a battle to permanently block the public from accessing a stretch of beach
- His $32.5M property sits along Martins Beach in California where the last owners allowed the public to access it for 70-years
- Khosla's attorneys have argued in several courts that it is his right to fence out the public but so far the courts have disagreed
- His legal team is now trying to get the case heard in the US Supreme Court
A billionaire technology tycoon wants to lock the public out of a stretch of Californian beach his $32.5million mega-mansion sits on so he can have it to himself.
Sun Microsystems co-founder, Vinod Khosla, wants to keep all the sun to himself along Martins Beach near Half Moon Bay where his estate is located.
The owners previous owners had allowed public access to the beach for 70 years but Khosla slammed the gates shut resulting in a long-running dispute.
A California courts ruled it should open it's gates to the public but now the case may be heard by the highest court in the country, the U.S. Supreme Court.
'No property right is more fundamental than the right to exclude,' lawyers for Khosla said Thursday in asking for the case the be reviewed, according to SFGate.
Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla has been trying to legally block the public from accessing the beach in front of his $32M property in California for years
The previous owners of the property allowed the public to access the gorgeous beach for 70-years before Khosla first tried to shutter out the public in 2010
His attorneys argue that the state courts erroneously decided that 'owners of private beachfront property in California may not exercise that right without first obtaining the government's permission.'
Khosla purchased the property along with the Martins Beach and surrounding coastal lands from the previous owners in 2008, and he shut the public access gate in 2010 citing the cost of maintenance and liability insurance.
Several rulings regarding the beach transpired in the years that followed the billionaire shuttering access to the public.
In 2014, a San Mateo County court ruled that he should obtained a permit from the California Coastal Commission before closing off access.
Martins Beach sits along the California coastline just near picturesque Half Moon Bay
Then, a state appeals court upheld that ruling in August, saying the closure was a type of property development that needed the commission's approval.
'One of the basic goals of the state for the coastal zone is to maximize public access to and along the coast and maximize public recreational opportunities to the coastal zone,' said the three-justice panel of the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco.
Khosla again tried to appeal the ruling but the state Supreme Court denied review of Khosla's appeal in October.
Most watched News videos
- Smoke from Halen Môn smokery causes dispute with Anglesey Sea Zoo
- Australian tourist 'lynched' after streaking through Italian town
- PM holds breakfast meeting with business leaders in Rome
- Disgraced presenter Huw Edwards arrives at court for sentencing
- Old clip of 56-year-old man who attempted to kill Trump resurfaces
- Huw Edwards leaves court following sentencing
- David Lammy complains of no taxpayer budget for Starmer's clothes
- Starmer and Meloni giggle as they pose for photos in Villa Doria
- Moment family flee their home after hoverboard charger explodes
- Teen girl rushed to ambulance after knife rampage at Russian school
- Shocking moment woman repeatedly runs over handbag thief
- Barrister on former BBC presenter Huw Edwards: His sentence is a joke