Katy Perry Second Complicated Real Estate Legal Battle Reaches an End
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Over the years, celebrities have been involved in several messy and complicated lawsuits. From the Amber Heard vs Johnny Depp trial in 2022 to Meghan Markle’s lawsuit against Associated Newspapers, celebrities from all over have been involved in lawsuits for a variety of reasons. Last year, Katy Perry was the latest celeb wrapped up in a legal battle. In August 2023, the news broke that Perry, and her fiancé Orlando Bloom, are being sued by Carl Westcott, an 84-year-old veteran who claimed he was of “unsound mind” when he sold his property to the couple for $15 million back in 2020.
Per the legal documents, obtained by Daily Mail, Westcott, who suffers from Huntington’s Disease, was undergoing back surgery at the time and was under the influence of opiates and painkillers when Bloom and Perry’s business manager, Bernie Gudvi, presented him the documents to sign to sell his property. Seven days after signing, however, Westcott “started to feel mentally clear again” and regretted his decision.
“He realized that when he entered into the Residential Sale Agreement, the opiates had deprived him of the mental faculty to understand or comprehend the significance of the discussions he had been having concerning the sale of his home and the consequences of the Residential Sale Agreement,” the documents read. As a result, Westcott contacted Gudvi and requested to rescind the contract. “Mr. Westcott described how he had been under the influence of pain medication since the six-hour surgery he underwent just a few days before he entered into the Residential Sale Agreement and apologized for the situation.”
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How Did Bloom and Perry Respond?
Two days later, the document states that Westcott received a letter from Bloom and Perry (née Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson)’s lawyers threatening to sue. “The letter advised Mr. Westcott that his clients Mr. Bloom and Ms. Hudson are not willing to walk away from purchasing Mr. Westcott’s home and he is obligated to complete the sale,” the document reads.
As a result, the two parties were involved in a messy three-year legal battle over the home. “Mr. Westcott intends, as he did when he was of sound mind before his surgery, to live in his home for the rest of his life,” the filing reads.
How Did Their Legal Battle End?
On May 22, 2024, the Wall Street Journal confirmed Perry and Bloom had won the dispute over the veteran and became the rightful owners of the home. According to property records obtained by the outlet, the former American Idol judge had the deed to the contested property filed on May 17 under her limited liability corporation DDoveB, which is a nod to her and Bloom’s daughter.
From an interview with Eric Rowen, the lawyer who represented Perry and Bloom, it seems Westcott’s case faltered in proving he wasn’t aware he was signing his home over.
“Today’s 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,” Rowen told Rolling Stone.
Is This Katy Perry’s First Real Estate Legal Battle?
Unfortunately for Perry, this was not her first real estate legal battle to play out in the public eye. Back in 2013, Perry offered to buy a sprawling former covenant in Los Feliz, California, Insider reported.
At the time, the covenant’s Archbishop, Jose Gomez, accepted the offer but two Sisters from the covenant, Sister Catherine Rose Holzman and Sister Rita Callanan, refused to go through with the deal. As it turns out, the Sisters looked up Perry online and found videos of her that didn’t align with their faith. “Even mentioning that she would sell her soul to Satan is against our principles and beliefs,” Holzman told Billboard in 2015. “Katy Perry represents everything we don’t believe in. It would be a sin to sell to her.”
Did the Sale Ever Go Through?
Before the sale to Perry could be completed, the Sisters sold the covenant to restaurateur and developer Dana Hollister. After that, both the archdiocese and Perry sued Hollister for interfering with the deal. “The sisters have been taken advantage of by the Hollister transaction,” the archdiocese claimed in a 2015 statement, per Insider.
In 2017, a jury declared that Hollister intentionally interfered with Perry’s purchase and was guilty of malice and fraud. She was ordered to pay the archdiocese $3.47 million in attorney fees and Perry’s company $1.57 million in fees. Shortly after, Hollister declared bankruptcy. During Hollister’s bankruptcy hearing, Sister Holzman sadly collapsed and died. Perry never completed the purchase of the home.
