Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom’s Montecito home lawsuit has reached a verdict.
In the Los Angeles Superior Court, Judge Joseph Lipner ruled that 84-year-old Carl Westcott — the founder of 1-800-Flowers who sold Perry his Montecito home in July 2020 for $15m, and afterward tried to back out of the deal, claiming that he was mentally incapacitated— was of sound mind when he sold the property to Perry.
“Wescott (sic) presented no persuasive evidence that he lacked capacity to enter into a real estate contract,” the court’s decision says. The decision will be permanent in 10 days’ time.
Perry’s attorney, Eric Rowen, told People, “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. The evidence shows that Mr. Westcott breached the contract for no other reason than he had changed his mind.”
He concluded, “We look forward to wrapping this matter up at the scheduled damage trial phase set for February 13 and 14, if not before.”
In August 2020, Westcott reportedly filed the lawsuit against Perry’s business manager Bernie Gudvi, with the trial beginning in late September of this year. Since then, Judge Lipner has bifurcated the case.
“While we do not agree with Judge Lipner’s ruling and wish he had spelled our father’s name correctly in his ruling, we accept it,” Westcott’s son Chart Westcott said in a statement shared with People. He then acknowledged that the “Roar” singer is set to testify in a countersuit regarding damages at a non-jury trial.
“Katy Perry will now have to testify, in person, on damages and the contradictory claims she has made over lost income for the rental of my father’s home. While this has been a long road, the fight for my father is not over and we will continue to represent him and his legacy of incredible achievements,” Chart continued to the outlet.
According to court documents, Judge Lipner ruled in favour of Perry after hearing the witness testimony of Dr. Gary Small, the psychiatrist who had never met Westcott prior and the only witness with the expertise to determine whether or not the entrepreneur was incapacitated by Huntington’s Disease. Westcott was diagnosed with the disease in July 2020.
“Wescott’s primary trial evidence on lack of capacity was the analysis and testimony of his retained expert, which the Court did not find credible or persuasive,” the judge wrote. “On the other hand, significant evidence showed that Wescott had capacity to enter into the contract. This evidence includes the testimony of percipient witnesses who interacted with Westcott during the days he negotiated and signed the contract; Westcott’s written communications during those same days, showing him to be coherent, engaged, lucid, and rational; and the medical reports of Westcott’s doctors, none of whom found he lacked capacity to engage in any action before the sales contract or for over a year afterwards.”
Lipner added, “Westcott understood he sold the house and needed to find a new place to live.”
In July 2020, Perry offered $13.5m for the house, but ultimately agreed to Westcott’s $15m counter-offer, reportedly signing to pay in all cash. But after he signed the deal, Westcott informed Gutvi’s broker days later that he “decided not to sell.”
The pop star and her fiancé had planned on making Westcott’s property – boasting eight bedrooms and eleven bathrooms – a home for their growing family, at the time they were expecting their three-year-old daughter, Daisy Dove.
