Billionaire battles surfers in court over access to northern California beach

Billionaire Vinod Khosla, the co-founder of Sun Microsystems, is making a last stand to block public access to a northern California beach on a 22 hectare plot he bought for US$32.5 million.

Khosla, who started his own venture capital firm a decade ago, is fighting a lawsuit brought in state court by the charity Surfrider Foundation, which describes its mission as "the protection and enjoyment of oceans, waves and beaches through a powerful activist network".

The surfers' group claims that by locking a gate on a beach access road about 53km south of San Francisco, Khosla is effectively engaged in beach development without the permit required by the California Coastal Act. Surfrider is seeking fines of as much as US$15,000 a day since October 2010, or about US$20 million to date.

Lawyers for the foundation and for the Indian-born businessman squared off on Wednesday in final arguments before Superior Court Judge Barbara Mallach in Redwood City following a non-jury trial.

"How do you force Mr Khosla to comply with the law?" Joseph Cotchett, a lawyer for Surfrider, asked the judge. "Somehow, somewhere justice has to rain down on this individual, Mr Khosla, and go to the Coastal Commission and unlock that gate," he said. Cotchett then invoked late US president Ronald Reagan's plea to Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall: "Take off that lock, Mr Khosla. If not, you're going to pay a fine."

Khosla argues he has a constitutional right to exclude the public from private property.