Pop star Katy Perry and fiance Orlando Bloom are locked in a legal battle with an 83-year-old veteran over the mansion they purchased in 2021 for $14.2 million in Montecito, California.
The Daily Mail reported that Carl Westcott had moved into the home just two months before Perry, 38, and Bloom, 46, purchased the 8.9 acre estate, which boasts six bedrooms and 12 bathrooms.
Court papers obtained by the New York Post state that the contract for selling his home on July 14, 2020, was made when Westcott "lacked the mental capacity to understand the nature and probable consequences of the contract."
Westcott, a former member of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne division, bought the house on May 29 with the plan to reside there "for the rest of his life," according to the court records.
He claimed that his age, poor health from Huntington’s disease, and "a major six-hour surgery less than a week before the proposed contract" had "seriously impaired [his] mental faculties to the point he was of unsound mind and not competent to give his free, voluntary, or intelligent consent to the contract."
On July 22, 2020, several days after the contract was signed, Westcott claimed that the opiates from the surgery wore off and he began to "feel mentally clear again." He submitted a letter to the real estate agency representing the property, Berkshire Hathaway, stating that he did not want to sell his home, legal documents show.
Perry and Bloom responded to Westcott by expressing their desire to buy the property at a higher price than his initial purchase, but in response Westcott said he "gave it his deepest consideration, but that he is in the final few years of his life and he cannot sell his home," according to the court documents.
An attorney representing Perry and Bloom subsequently informed him that the couple had no intention of backing out and he was committed to finalizing the purchase.
A trial is set for this month.
Representatives for Westcott and Perry did not respond to requests for comment by the Post.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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