Katy Perry has won the first part of her fight for the $15 million Montecito house she bought for herself and her fiancé Orlando Bloom to live in together.
Carl Westcott, an entrepreneur who sold Perry the house in July 2020 but then tried to back out of the deal saying he was mentally ill, was of sound mind when he agreed to sell the house, a judge ruled Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.
The court said, “Wescott did not present any convincing evidence that he lacked the capacity to enter into a real estate contract.” The ruling will be final in 10 days.
Perry’s lawyer, Eric Rowen, told PEOPLE in a statement, “Today’s proposed decision is clear—the judge found that Mr. Westcott could not prove anything other than he was of sound mind when he engaged in complex negotiations over several weeks with multiple parties to effect a lucrative sale of the property that netted him a substantial profit.” It’s clear from the proof that Mr. Westcott broke the deal just because he changed his mind. Without a doubt, we hope to be done with this case by the time of the damage hearing on February 13 and 14.
Westcott, who is 84 years old, sued Perry’s business boss Bernie Gudvi in August 2020, and the trial started in late September. The judge has since split the case into two parts, and Perry, who is 38 years old, is set to appear in the countersuit at a trial without a jury in the coming months.
For the first time, Westcott’s son Chart Westcott told PEOPLE, “We do not agree with Judge Lipner’s ruling and wish he had spelled our father’s name correctly in his ruling, but we accept it.” Katy Perry will now have to go to court to explain the losses she has claimed and the different claims she has made about the rent money she lost on my dad’s house. Even though it’s been a long journey, the fight for my father is not over, and we will continue to stand up for him and all the great things he did.
The “Firework” singer wanted to turn the eight-bedroom, eleven-bathroom house into a home for her, Bloom, and their 3-year-old daughter Daisy Dove. But Westcott told Gudvi’s dealer just days after they signed the contract that he “decided not to sell” it, which slowed things down.
Attorneys for Westcott, the founder of 1-800-Flowers, said in their opening statements that he had been diagnosed with Huntington’s disease in 2015 and had spinal surgery five days before the sale, which put him in a “postoperative delirium” when Perry’s contract was shown to him.
That Westcott had been “masking” his symptoms because he was a successful businessman, they said, because he was showing signs of “delusion” and “intrusive thoughts” around the time of the sale.
During Gudvi’s opening statements, Westcott’s lawyers said that his excuse of mental incapacity was “fabricated” and “fake,” and that Westcott’s doctor had told them two days before surgery that he trusted Westcott to give permission for spinal surgery.
Cristal Clarke, Westcott’s real estate agent, also said that he was “very clear and concise” when he bought the house for the first time in May 2020 and that no one was worried about his mental health.
Six weeks later, Clarke said Maria Shriver made a “out of the blue” offer on the house for $13 million the day before he was going to have another surgery. Westcott responded with $13.5 million. Clarke told the judge that Westcott quickly took back his offer, and the two of them decided that he could sell the house for more money to someone else.
Perry first made an offer of $13.5 million in July, but Westcott countered with $15 million, which Perry agreed to accept. She agreed to pay the full amount in cash, with no conditions.
Westcott reportedly told Clarke to “please proceed” with the sale and even to put Shriver’s $13.5 million offer on hold in case things with Perry didn’t work out.
Lawyers for the business manager told Gudvi in their opening comments that Westcott looked at a number of other properties after signing with Perry and finally emailed Gudvi to say he wanted to back out of the deal. Westcott asked for real estate lawyers after his agent told him he had to follow the terms of the contract. But he soon said that he was “ready to resume” looking for a new home. On July 23, 2020, he told Gudvi’s broker that he didn’t want to sell.
In the end, on July 23, he told Gudvi’s dealer that he had “decided not to sell” the house.
Westcott’s lawyers also said that the people around him, including Clarke, were “people with pecuniary interests” who wanted to make money off of him because they knew he could sell the house for a lot of money.
Perry and Bloom wrote a letter to Westcott that was later received by PEOPLE. In it, the couple, who were expecting Daisy at the time, talked about how excited they were to “make their life and future memories” at the house.
Both of them wrote, “As you know, we’re going to have a baby next month and know that this will be the best place to raise her.” “We were interested in other homes, but yours will give us the peace of mind of security, privacy, and safety… This house will give us a break and help us grow as a family.