Katy Perry is not just seeking cash damages in her lawsuit over a $15million mansion in exclusive Montecito, CA, she also wants justice, the pop star told a Los Angeles court Tuesday.
When asked if she stands to ‘gain money or anything else from the outcome of this litigation,’ Perry responded, ‘Yes…..justice.
‘I stand to lose money if it does not work in my favor.’
The 40-year-old singer – wearing a man’s gray striped dress shirt, with her dark hair tumbling down to her shoulders – was testifying via video at LA Superior Court on the fourth day of a trial in which she’s seeking millions from 85-year-old dying veteran Carl Westcott for back rent and damage repairs to the giant home she bought from him five years ago.
During 55 minutes of testimony, during which she frequently sipped from a blue metal water bottle, Perry told the court that she already owned three other houses in the Santa Barbara area when she agreed to pay $15million cash for Wescott’s home in July 2020, using her business manager, Bernie Gudvi, as her agent.
Just days after signing the contract, Westcott – who suffers from an incurable brain disorder – tried to back out of the deal, claiming he was under the influence of painkillers when he signed.
But Perry and her then-fiancé, movie star Orlando Bloom, fought him, insisting that they wanted to keep the 9,000-sq ft home and raise their daughter Daisy there, who turned five Tuesday, the day her mother testified in court.
Westcott sued to get the sales contract voided but, after nearly four years in court, the famous pair won their case to keep the 1930s estate 100 miles north of LA, where other celebrity residents include Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Oprah Winfrey, Ariana Grande and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Soon after winning the keys to the house, she and Bloom went back to court again, this time seeking $6million from Westcott, claiming nearly $2.5million in damages to the sprawling, 2.5-acre property and the $3.5million in back rent she could have charged during her long legal fight. Perry’s attorneys later reduced their damages claim to $1.3million, knocking $1.2million off the bill.
During her testimony Tuesday, Perry admitted that by the time the title to the property was transferred in 2024, the listed owner of the house was an LLC company controlled by Bloom.
And at a suggestion from Westcott’s attorney Andrew Thomas that it was Bloom who shelled out some $5million to pay for repairs and renovations to the house, she said she had a role in the project as ‘Orlando’s partner and advisor’.
Asked by Thomas, ‘Do you have any financial stake of any kind in the outcome of this litigation,’ Perry said, ‘My financial stake could be lost money, lawyers’ fees, lost rental income – all of the above’.
So far, Westcott has received $9million of the $15million original purchase price of the mansion, and Thomas asked Perry, ’Someone is going to have to pay the other $6million. Who will that be?’
She answered: ‘It could be a combination of Orlando and I. We are family for life.’
When Thomas asked Perry whether she learned, during her legal disputes with Westcott, that he has ‘ended up in a mental institution’, the artist’s attorney, Eric Rowen, vehemently objected, saying that Westcott’s health ‘was completely irrelevant’ to the case. Judge Joseph Lipner agreed and upheld the objection.
Perry has come under fire from Wescott’s family members for going after their ailing patriarch.
They say they are outraged by the ‘greed ‘ of the pop star, estimated to be worth $350million, and have slammed the ‘Hollywood elite system’ that they say allows celebrities like her to ‘treat ordinary people like dirt’.
‘It’s entitled celebrity behavior,’ Carl’s son Chart Westcott, 40, said. ‘She has no sense of fair play, no empathy, zero empathy, quite the opposite.’
Chart said that it was a ‘miracle’ that his bedridden father – who is ‘in horrible condition’ as he receives hospice care for Huntington’s disease – has ‘survived longer than we ever expected’.
And he bitterly disputes the millions Perry is demanding for lost rental income and repairs to the estate, which boasts a tennis court, two guesthouses and a pool.
The damages she is seeking are ‘absolutely egregious’, said Chart, whose brother Court is married to Real Housewives of Dallas star Kameron Westcott. ‘There’s no real explanation other than greed. This is such a small deal to be worried about – I think it’s a matter of privilege.’
Court Westcott, 46, told DailyMail.Com that the five year legal battle with Perry has been ‘devastating’ for his father.
‘My dad has been bedridden for years,’ he said. ‘He’s at the end of his life. He’s not really aware of what’s happening at this point with his condition. But we are looking forward to closure on this.’
Perry hired more than a dozen ‘experts’ to scour the house for faults and argues that the property needed $1.1 million in repairs for extensive basement damage caused by flooding from a water leak, and $225,000 to repair the roof of a a guest cottage/poolhouse damaged when an oak tree fell on.
She’s also asking for $3.5million in lost rent that she could have earned on the posh retreat despite stating at the time of the sale that she wanted the house to raise daughter Daisy.
Westcott, a veteran of the US Army 101st Airborne was born into a ‘dirt poor’ family in Mississipp but moved to LA where he made his fortune building several successful companies including 1-800-Flowers.
He and Perry became ensnared in their bitter dispute after he claimed his judgement was clouded by powerful medication and ill health when he inked the deal to sell on July 15, 2020.
He had only purchased the home in May of that year and moved in two months prior to his dealings with Perry’s business manager, Gudvi, who agreed to pay Westcott $3,750,000 more than he had just bought it for.
The then-80-year-old had been discharged from the hospital only four days prior to signing, having undergone a six-hour back operation and he was on a potent cocktail of opiates to numb the pain, according to his lawyers.
When the medication wore off, Westcott said he realized he’d made a mistake and decided he no longer wanted to sell.
‘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,’ his lawyers argued.
But Perry and Bloom’s persisted in their quest to own the mansion and went to court, using Gudvi to front their case. Then, Westcott’s family took up the fight on his behalf after he became bedridden and mentally incapacitated because of Huntington’s disease, which attacks the brain and can cause progressive dementia.
The famous couple – who broke up in June after nine years together – won their original case after Judge Lipner ruled that there was ‘no persuasive evidence’ that Westcott lacked the capacity to sign the contract.
‘There are no grounds for rescission. The contract must be respected,’ the judge concluded, leaving only the issue of damages – essentially how big a discount, if any, to award to Perry – to be determined.
In the midst of her litigation with Westcott, Perry bought another luxury home close by in Montecito and recently she rented the Westcott house to actor Chris Pratt, his wife, Katherine and their three children.
