Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom have been embroiled in a three-year legal battle with an 83-year-old veteran over a $15million Santa Barbara home.
DailyMail.com can reveal that in July 2020 Carl Westcott, 83, signed a real estate contract to sell his home to the singer claiming he was under the influence of opioids and painkillers following major back surgery.
When the effects of the painkillers wore off days later, Westcott – who suffers from Huntington’s Disease – claims he realized what he’d signed away and rescinded the contract.
But the couple’s agents disregarded Westcott’s plea and threatened to sue if he did not proceed with the sale of the eight-bedroom, 11-bathroom property.
Three years later, the trial is now set for later this month.
Westcott was 80 at the time of the sale and had been suffering from Huntington’s disease since 2015.
The rare disease attacks areas of the brain that control voluntary movement, with one of the symptoms being dementia.
According to Westcott’s complaint obtained by DailyMail.com, he never listed the property or spoke to a broker about putting the 9,285sqft home on the market.
Westcott had purchased the home in May 2020 and moved in just two months prior to the sale with Perry. He was planning to live there as his primary residence ‘for the rest of his life,’ the complaint states.
On July 11, 2020, Westcott was discharged from the hospital after undergoing a major six-hour back surgery.
‘Upon discharge from the hospital, Mr. Westcott was prescribed at least two opiates in pill form that he was to continue taking for pain, which he took as prescribed several times each day,’ the complain states.
‘The combination of his age, frailty from his back condition and recent surgery, and the opiates he was taking several times a day rendered Mr. Westcott of unsound mind.’
Three days later on July 14, Bernie Gudvi, who represented Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom, presented Westcott with the written offer, which was more money than he had paid for the home on May 29, 2020.
The next day Westcott signed the document prepared by the brokerage firm.
His lawyers argue that Westcott was ‘unable to understand the nature and probable consequences of his actions.’
Days later, Westcott ‘started to feel mentally clear again’ and realized the weight of his signature on the sale agreement, the complaint states.
On July 22, Westcott sent an email to Berkshire Hathaway, the dual agent for the seller and buyer, saying that he did not want to sell his home, described how he had been under the influence of pain medication and said he was ‘in the final years of his life and cannot sell his home.’
Two days later Westcott received a letter from a lawyer.
‘The letter stated, in sum and substance, that the lawyer represented not only Mr. Gudvi, but also Mr. Orlando Bloom and Ms. Katheryn Hudson (professionally known as Katy Perry) on whose behalf Mr. Gudvi had always been acting.
‘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.’
His lawyers argue that the contract to sell his home is ‘voidable’ due to Westcott’s mental state.
Westcott will not attend the trial because his disease has left him permanently mentally incapacitated and bedridden.
Westcott’s family is now fighting the singer for control of their father’s $15million estate.
Westcott is a veteran of the US Army 101st Airborne and is known for his successful entrepreneurial ventures with 1-800-Flowers.
This isn’t the first time Katy Perry has had legal problems when it came to purchasing a home.
In 2015, she was in a battle with elderly Roman Catholic nuns over the sale of a Los Angeles convent.
Perry purchased the convent in 2015, paying $14.5million cash to Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez.
Sister Rita Callanan and Sister Catherine Rose Holzman, who had lived in the convent since the 70s, claimed Gomez had no right to sell the property, and said they already sold it weeks prior for $15.5million.
But the Archdiocese of Los Angeles sued to block the sale, arguing the nuns did not have authority to sell the property.
A judge ruled in 2016 that the sale was invalid and awarded Perry and the Archdiocese damages totaling more than $15million.
During the 2018 legal battle, Sister Holzman, 89, collapsed and died during a court appearance.
Sister Callanan, the only surviving nun who lived at the Order of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, said at the time that Katy Perry ‘has blood on her hands.’
