Articles

PLF attorney to be guest on KQED's "Forum"

February 07, 2014 | By PAUL BEARD

I will be a guest on KQED Public Radio’s Forum on Monday, February 10, from 9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.  KQED is San Francisco’s NPR affiliate, which broadcasts throughout Northern California. Listen on 88.5 FM or Comcast channel 960 in San Francisco, 89.3 FM in Sacramento, 88.3 FM in Santa Rosa and 88.1 FM in Martinez. We’ll ̷ ...

Articles

Property rights under attack in California "Martins Beach" case

May 21, 2014 | By PAUL BEARD

There’s a big legal battle brewing along the San Mateo County coast that PLF is closely monitoring. Two radical, anti-property-rights groups are trying to force owners to open up their private land to the public, so that the public has easier access to a popular beach area known as Martins Beach. Here’s the backstory: … ...

Articles

Dispelling five myths about the Martins Beach controversy

August 19, 2014 | By PAUL BEARD

One of California’s most controversial land-use disputes  is over Martins Beach, in Half Moon Bay. The fight is over public access to the popular beach–and whether one man’s private property rights can survive a fierce backlash from well-funded and powerful interests groups.  I wrote about the facts of the case here. The contr ...

Articles

Sacramento Bee publishes PLF Op-Ed on Martins Beach

September 22, 2014 | By PAUL BEARD

On Sunday, the Sacramento Bee published my opinion editorial on the Martins Beach controversy, including legislative efforts to cow one landowner into giving up his property rights. PLF attorneys are following the dispute closely, and they will support the property owner as a friend-of-the-court in an appeal from a San Mateo Superior Court ruling t ...

Articles

Permit needed to keep trespassers off private property

September 25, 2014 | By PAUL BEARD

Yesterday, a San Mateo Superior Court judge issued a stunning tentative ruling in one of the two Martins Beach lawsuits pending against coastal landowner Vinod Khosla. The judge concluded that the decision to disallow the public to trespass onto private property–after allowing the public to do so for a fee–constitutes “de ...