Katy Perry fought for a Montecito mansion in court. The verdict is in, and she likes it
Katy Perry fought for a Montecito mansion in court. The verdict is in, and she likes it
Emily St. MartinThe verdict is in! Katy Perrys legal battle over
that$15
-million Montecito mansion has concluded.
The "Teenage Dream" hitmaker purchased the mansion for her
selfand fianc Orlando Bloom in July 2020
from the founder of , but the1-800-Flowers
. But theentrepreneur
who sold her the hometried to call off the sale,
citing alleginghe was mentally incapacitated at the time of the agreement due to pain pills.
A judge made the a tentative ruling Wednesday in the On Wednesday, aLos Angeles
CountySuperior Court
judge tentatively ruled , findingthat Carl Westcott, 84, had not met his burden of proving he was mentally unfit.
"Wescott presented no persuasive evidence that he lacked capacity to enter into a real estate contract between June 10, 2020
,and June 18, 2020, the days during which he negotiated and signed the contract," the judgment read.
The judge
ruled that said evidence presented byWescott's
team evidence of his lack of mental capacitywas not credible or persuasive.
and thatThe court actually found significant evidence
that whichdemonstrated Wescott was well enough to knowingly sign on the dotted line. The evidence included the testimony of
percipient awitness who interacted with Westcott
during the days he while henegotiated and finalized the contract as well as Westcott's written communications during the same time frame
, showing that the court said showedthe entrepreneur to be "coherent, engaged, lucid, and rational."
Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom caught in legal battle over contested purchase of $15 million homeWestcott's medical reports
alsoshowed that none of his doctors found he lacked capacity to engage in any action before the sales contract or for
more thanovera year afterward
s. According to the court documents, the contract that Westcott negotiated and signed yielded
Westcott hima $3.75
-million
grossprofit. He
'dalso
hadentered into other contracts shortly before and shortly after the real estate agreement with Perry
,and had not attempted to rescind any of
those due to the other contracts forlack of capacity.
Todays proposed decision is clear the judge found that Mr. Westcott could not prove anything other than he was of perfectly sound mind when he engaged in complex negotiations over several weeks with multiple parties to transact a lucrative sale of the property that netted him a substantial profit," Perry's attorney, Eric Rowen, said in a statement to People.
"The evidence shows that Mr. Westcott breached the contract for no other reason than he had changed his mind," said Rowen. "We look forward to wrapping this matter up at the scheduled damage trial phase set for February 13 and 14, if not before.
Westcott filed a lawsuit against the couple's business manager
, Bernie Gudvi ,in August 2020,
alleging he was heavily medicated and not of sound mind when he contracted with Perry
the celebritiesfor
the a$15-million sale. Shortly after the contract was signed, Westcott and his lawyers alleged that he was unable to properly review the
propertycontract because he
had beenwason several intoxicating pain-killing opiates at
thethe time.
In court documents obtained by The Times, Westcott, 83, said he was of unsound mind and not competent to give his free, voluntary, or intelligent consent to the contract. The filing added, The contract that [Westcott] signed to sell his home is therefore void or voidable.Westcott said in his
says in thelawsuit that
several days before being presented with the proposed real estate contract,he had a six-hour back surgery
several days before being presented with the proposed real estate contractand
was had beenprescribed powerful medications that left him intoxicated at signing time.
Katy Perry wins a victory in battle to buy nuns' convent in Los FelizThe trial began in late September
,and the judge has since bifurcated the case. The "Roar" singer is expected to testify
in front of the judgein the countersuit regarding damages
at a forthcoming non-jury trial.
Westcott's son, Chart Westcott
,told People,
that"While we do not agree with
Judge Lipners [the judge's]ruling and wish he had spelled our fathers name correctly in his ruling, we accept it.
" Westcott's son, Chart Westcott, told People. that "Katy Perry will now have to testify, in person, on damages and the contradictory claims she has made over lost income for the rental of my fathers home. While this has been a long road, the fight for my father is not over and we will continue to represent him and his legacy of incredible achievements."
This isnt the first time that Perry has been embroiled in a legal battle over real estate. In 2015, the Grammy-nominated artist purchased an eight-acre Los Feliz convent for $14.5 million from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Nuns who once lived on the property and tried to sell the property to restaurateur Dana Hollister. A judge ruled against the nuns the following year, declaring the sale to Hollister invalid and granting Perry permission to buy it. In late 2017, a jury required Hollister to pay $5 million to Perry and the archdiocese for intentionally interfering with the sale of the former convent . It's unclear whether the singer ever bought the property.Categories
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