Katy Perry has forged a considerable legacy as a pop star but she will now also, unintentionally, go down in history for her part in a legal battle.
The 38-year-old singer and her husband, the British actor Orlando Bloom, have been involved in proceedings over a dispute about how they bought their Santa Barbara house.
The pair are said to have bought the property in July 2020 for $15 million (£12.2 million) from 84-year-old Carl Westcott.
However, Mr Westcott was said to have been on “several intoxicating pain-killing opiates” at the time of the sale and “did not want to sell his home”. He has additionally been diagnosed with Huntington's disease.
Mr Westcott’s family have accused Perry and Bloom of using a “swarm of lawyers” to try to steamroller him.
As their court battle continues, a bill proposing the Katy Perry Act has been launched this week to help protect elderly or vulnerable homeowners in the US.
What is the Katy Perry Act?
Mr Westcott’s family have put forward the Protecting Elder Realty for Retirement Years Act, which has also become known as the Katy Perry Act, to try to protect vulnerable people. The act proposes a 72-hour “cool down period” after a sale where either party can rescind any agreement without penalty – if one of the parties is aged 75 or above.
Court documents from the Los Angeles County superior court state: "The multiple opiate medications, which were a synthetic form of morphine, disoriented and intoxicated [Mr Westcott], depriving him of reason and understanding with respect to the terms and consequences of the contract, and seriously impaired [Mr Westcott’s] mental faculties to the point he was of unsound mind and not competent to give his free, voluntary, or intelligent consent to the contract. The contract that [Mr Westcott] signed to sell his home is therefore void or voidable."
Katy Perry’s team has not commented on the case.
Last month she sold her music catalogue in deal worth $225m.
