Last Friday night was a victorious one for Katy Perry. Following a lengthy legal battle over the rights to a Montecito estate, the pop star officially filed the deed for the contested California property on Friday, May 17, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The saga began in July 2020, when Perry and her partner, actor Orlando Bloom, were looking for a new home in the SoCal enclave to accommodate their growing family; at the time, the “Firework” singer was pregnant with their daughter, Daisy Dove Bloom. Perry’s business manager, Bernie Gudvi, made a $15 million offer on a home on her behalf (topping a competing offer from journalist and Kennedy scion Maria Shriver in the process). The estate’s owner, entrepreneur Carl Westcott, signed a contract accepting the off-market bid before attempting to rescind the sale a few days later. Perry and Westcott then sued each other for ownership of the property, which includes a pool and two guesthouses.
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Westcott claimed that he was not of sound mind when he signed the contract to sell the roughly two-acre estate, which he had bought just a few months earlier for $11.25 million, due to a battle with Huntington’s disease and the painkillers he was on following a recent back surgery. Perry’s team asserted that Westcott had simply changed his mind after failing to find another home in the competitive local market. Near the end of last year, the court sided with Perry, stating in their decision that “Wescott presented no persuasive evidence that he lacked capacity to enter into a real estate contract.”
Even after nearly four years in court, the legal drama isn’t quite over yet; Perry has so far paid $9 million for the home. A second phase of the trial, scheduled for July, will determine any damages owed by Westcott, which could total up to $6 million, or the remaining balance owed by Perry.
Westcott has since moved into a residential mental health facility, the WSJ reports. Perry and Bloom bought a nearby $14.2 million compound in October 2020. Time will tell if the Grammy-nominated musician will keep both of the properties.
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This isn’t the “Dark Horse” singer’s first real estate endeavor tied up in legal drama: In 2015, Perry was embroiled in a separate case around the sale of a Los Angeles convent property. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to sell Perry the 1920s property for $14.5 million, while the nuns who formerly lived on the premises, the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart, instead sold the convent to restaurateur Dana Hollister before Perry’s deal was completed. The parties went to court over who had the right to sell. Ultimately, the archdiocese won that right, though it’s unclear who owns the eight-acre property today.
