he gate remains padlocked with no-trespassing signs
Then why hasn’t the sheriff cut the lock and removed the signs?
WTF are we paying the cops for if they won’t do their jobs?
Because the law does not work that way. The law provides different remedies in different situations.
If a court in a civil case orders a private citizen to do something, and the private citizen does not do it, that does not give a sherrif a lawful right to do it.
The remedy is that the other side, here it is the Surfrider Foundation, seeks a Contempt of Court order. That is a quasi-criminal proceeding. If they get the order, the court could fine or jail the citizen until the citizen obeys.
Analogizing from eviction actions, I expect it would go something like this:
For the Sherrif to remove the gate, the Surfriders wouldhave to ask the court for an order directing the Sherriff to remove the gate. That order would have to be filed in court. It would include an order to the clerk to issue a writ to the Sherrif instructing the Sherrif to remove the gate. The Surfriders would pay the writ fee, which isn’t much (and they’d recover from the citizen later) and take the issued writ to the Sherrif. The Sherrif might first post the property with a notice that the gate would be removed in a few days. This gives the citizen a chance to do it himself. If the citizen does not do it, then the Sherrif shows up and removes it. Anyone who interferes with the Sherrif learns the kind of lesson Michael Brown learned in Ferguson.
I’m not saying this is the only way to get the job done, but it is one likely way. Right now the Sherrif has no mandate to remove anyhing. He has gone as far as he can to say that no legal authority is going to intervene to prevent beach access. If Khosla were to engage in “self-help” such as by hiring goons he would be in deep yogurt real fast.
The Surfriders’ attorney is a hard-ass. He’ll get the job done.
If