Mississippi native sues Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom over sale of $15 million estate
Published 8:33 pm Tuesday, August 22, 2023
A Vicksburg native is now embroiled in a legal battle with pop star Katy Perry and actor Orlando Bloom over the sale of his $15 million Santa Barbara, Calif., estate to the couple.
Carl Westcott, an entrepreneur who has founded several successful companies, including 1-800-flowers, alleges he was under the influence of “several intoxicating pain-killing opiates” following a surgery when he signed a 2020 contract to sell the property to Perry and Bloom, the LA Times reports.
The case went to a non-jury trial in Los Angeles on Monday.
In court documents, Westcott, 83, said he “was of unsound mind and not competent to give his free, voluntary, or intelligent consent to the contract.” The filing added, “The contract that (Westcott) signed to sell his home is therefore void or voidable.”
Perry and Bloom were informed of Westcott’s letter and allegedly responded that they were “not willing to walk away from purchasing Mr. Westcott’s home and he is obligated to complete the sale,” according to the LA Times.
The entrepreneur is seeking a cancellation of the sale and all associated paperwork he agreed to, as well as compensation for legal fees.
This isn’t the first time that Perry has been embroiled in a legal battle over a home.
In 2015, the “I Kissed a Girl” singer purchased an eight-acre Los Feliz convent for $14.5 million from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
Nuns who once lived on the property opposed the transaction and tried to sell the property to restaurateur Dana Hollister. A judge ruled against the nuns the following year, declaring the sale to Hollister invalid. In late 2017, a jury required Hollister to pay $5 million to Perry and the archdiocese for intentionally interfering with the sale of the former convent.