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Comment by cortesoft | Hacker News Reader

It is also the law in California; However, this property is an exception because it was given to the previous owners by the Mexican government before California became part of the United States.

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It wasn't just given to them by the Mexican government: it was also included in the US-Mexican treaties, and ratified after an appeal to the US Supreme Court.

Makes it a lot harder to deal with.

According to the apparently well-informed first comment[1] on that article, it's not really an exception. The first paragraph:

    As a former Coastal Commission staff member in the 1980s, 
    I've seen this scenario played out over and over. The so-called 
    issue of Spanish land grants pre-existing and somehow 
    superceding laws like the Coastal Act isn't an issue at 
    all -- land grants occurred in the early 1800s all over 
    California, so Martins Beach isn't any special or privileged 
    circumstance.

[1] http://blogs.kqed.org/science/audio/silicon-valley-billionai...

It's not clear to me if he understands that the current court case is invoking federal supremacy of US treaties over California law/constitution, which seems to be a brand-new argument. He compares it to a private homeowners association barring access to waterfront, which to me seems completely irrelevant.

I suspect the biggest issue here is that whoever sold him the property talked those lands right up as a selling point and he's discovering the reality is more complicated

I suspect he has lawyers to deal with that sort of thing. Do you really think he spent nearly $40 million based on what the seller told him about a treaty without checking with a lawyer?

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