Katy Perry Scores Tentative Win in Montecito Mansion War
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A Los Angeles judge has sided with Katy Perry and her partner Orlando Bloom in the superstar couple’s plight to purchase a Montecito mansion from Texas millionaire Carl Westcott.
In a tentative decision expected to become permanent after a 10-day waiting period, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Joseph Lipner found there was insufficient evidence to prove Westcott lacked capacity when he signed the contract with Perry’s business manager.
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“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,” Eric Rowen, the lawyer for Perry’s camp, says in a statement to Rolling Stone.
“The evidence shows that Mr. Westcott breached the contract for no other reason than he had changed his mind. We look forward to wrapping this matter up at the scheduled damage trial phase set for February 13 and 14, if not before,” he said.
Perry is expected to testify at that hearing.
During the breach of contract trial that led to the judge’s decision, Westcott’s lawyer argued his client was suffering from a degenerative brain disease, symptoms of dementia, post-operative delirium and the effects of pain killers following a back surgery when he agreed to sell his property to Perry in July 2020.
In his tentative ruling, Judge Lipner noted that even Westcott’s own medical expert was inconsistent in his testimony about the condition he believes the retired entrepreneur was in when he let Perry tour his coastal property, negotiated a higher price with the “Roar” singer and extended a deadline for her to purchase.
“While Dr. (Gary) Small testified toward the end of direct examination that he was of the opinion that Westcott lacked capacity to contract on July 15 and July 18, 2020, he did not offer a cogent explanation of how he came to that opinion,” the judge wrote. “Dr. Small’s testimony did not give the court a basis to find that Westcott had met the burden of showing that he lacked competence to sign the sales contract.”
When the contract case first went to trial on Sept. 27, Perry faced backlash online for allegedly seeking to put an elderly man out of his home against his wishes.
Lawyers for Perry’s camp countered that Westcott purchased the stunning estate on May 29, 2020, just six weeks before signing his deal with Perry’s representative, Bernie Gudvi.
They said Westcott badgered his broker about when Perry’s initial offer was expected to land, rejected her initial $13.5 million bid, signed a counteroffer for $15 million on July 15, 2020, actively organized Perry’s tour of his property on July 17, 2020, agreed to extend the deadline on his counteroffer when the initial deadline lapsed and criticized his agent for requesting a 5 percent commission. Gudvi signed the $15 million deal on behalf of Perry on July 18, 2020.
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