Mark Attanasio is the billionaire owner of the Milwaukee Brewers and is being accused by one of his billionaire neighbors in Malibu of stealing beach sand.
Malibu is already an upscale neighborhood, but within it, there is an even more upscale area called Broad Beach, which Attanasio and his neighbor James Kohlberg call home. Kohlberg is suing Attanasio for allegedly excavating sand from a public beach to use on his private property.
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The lawsuit says that Attanasio is a public nuisance and a private nuisance, which I didn’t know was a thing you could be criminally accused of.
The suit claims that Attanasio is violating the California Coastal Act of 1976 by using construction equipment from his company to collect sand from the beach and transfer it to his private property. Attanasio’s legal team begs to differ. They say that they’ve got legitimate permits to repair a seawall that could damage Attanasio’s home.
The lawsuit alleges that the excavators made a mess of the beach, prevented the public from accessing the beach that is rightfully theirs, and stole The People’s sand.
Sand is a big deal in Broad Beach, where the beaches have suffered from severe erosion in recent years. The many celebs who live there—including Dustin Hoffman, Ray Romano, and Pierce Brosnan—have poured millions of dollars into a project to replenish the sand to protect their homes.
Malibu property values are soaring—it’s the site of California’s most expensive mansion—so, of course, the big names who call it home want to protect their investments. And sometimes you gotta (allegedly) steal a little sand from the general public to protect your palatial seaside mansion.
For as silly as this little battle sounds, the legal right to sand is a legitimate issue facing coastal cities across the United States. Be warned, rich people in giant seaside homes that look like they should be toured by Architectural Digest: climate change is coming for your seawalls, and it doesn’t give a shit who you are.
