Pop star Katy Perry is demanding that an ailing veteran whose Montecito mansion she purchased in 2020 pay her $5 million in damages, claiming that she lost millions in potential rental income while the duo were locked in a bitter yearslong legal battle over the $15 million property.
In documents filed on Nov. 21, Perry, 41, asked that the home’s former owner, 1-800-Flowers founder Carl Westcott, 85, be forced to pay her a total of $4,718,698.95, according to People.
This amount includes the “$3,525,000 in rental value” that she claims she lost between 2020, when the sale of the home closed, and May 2024, when a judge ruled that she was the true owner of the property. It also includes “$1,343,401.95 for necessary repairs.”
While the total for those two amounts reaches $4,868,401.95, that sum has been lowered as a result of the $149,703 that Westcott lost, according to the documents.
Meanwhile, lawyers for Westcott, who suffers from Huntington’s disease, stated in their own legal filing on Nov. 7 that Perry still owes their client $6 million from the agreed-upon sale price for the home, of which they say she has paid only $9 million thus far.
They have, however, agreed to lower that total to $5,740,418.18 to compensate for the cost of repairs.
The filings mark the latest twist in what has been an incredibly tumultuous and fraught legal battle between Perry and Westcott, which began in 2020, when the singer struck a deal to buy the veteran’s Montecito, CA, home for $15 million—only for him to back out just days later, claiming he had been under the influence of painkillers when he agreed to the sale.
“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,” Westcott’s lawyers stated in court documents.
However, Perry’s representatives argued that Westcott had been of sound mind when he agreed to the deal and that he only wanted to back out because he hadn’t been able to find an alternative Montecito property to his liking or budget.
Their yearslong legal battle was finally resolved in December 2023, when a judge ruled in Perry’s favor and ordered that the original sale contract—which was arranged by the pop star’s business manager, Bernie Gudvi—should be upheld.
Perry officially took possession of the home in May 2024. The sprawling, 1930s-era, 9,285-square-foot compound sits among the Santa Ynez foothills and has eight bedrooms, 7.5 bathrooms, a tennis court, two guesthouses, and a pool.
However, the battle did not stop there. Soon after that judgment, Perry moved to file a lawsuit against Westcott for $6 million in damages—a decision that was slammed by his family, who have accused her of having “zero empathy.”
Sensationally, during an August court hearing at which she appeared via Zoom, Perry admitted that she is not actually the owner of the Montecito property. It was actually purchased by her former fiancé, Orlando Bloom.
In her 55-minute testimony, which was frequently interrupted by objections from her lawyer, Perry confirmed a courtroom revelation from her business partner that it was Bloom, 48, who held the title to the Santa Barbara County property through the limited liability company DDoveB, named after the former couple’s daughter.
Perry and Bloom had ended their six-year engagement one month before the hearing took place. However, the “California Gurls” singer said during her testimony that the actor and their shared daughter are her “family for life.”
“So when title to the house was transferred as a result of this lawsuit, it never went to you or any entity you control, isn’t that true?” Westcott’s attorney, Andrew Thomas, asked her.
“Yes, sir,” replied Perry, adding that DDoveB was one of Bloom’s limited liability companies.
When asked by Thomas what she stood to gain from the outcome of the trial, Perry shot back: “Justice.”
“How about money?” Thomas questioned. “Do you stand to make any money from the outcome of this litigation?”
“I stand to lose money if it doesn’t work in my favor,” said Perry.
Perry admitted that she contributed no funds when Bloom’s LLC purchased the house in 2024 and that her role in the home’s remodeling was limited to being a “partner and adviser.”
The celebrity witness elaborated further on her participation in the renovation, saying that she saw “pictures and videos” of the work being done but took no active part in it.
However, when she was asked who would be responsible for paying Westcott the remaining $6 million owed on the price of the house, Perry said that it was likely she and Bloom would pay together.
“Are you two somehow partners in the property?” Thomas asked, prompting Perry to respond: “We’re family for life.”
Though she stopped short of saying that she and Bloom were financial partners, she did say that the property at the center of the case was of “good financial interest for me.”
She added, “I will gain financially from out.”
Perry has not revealed whether she or Bloom ever actually lived in the Montecito residence, which they originally purchased as a family home in which to raise their daughter, Daisy Dove, 5.
The former couple own another opulent mansion in the same neighborhood, which they bought for $14.2 million soon after Westcott attempted to back out of the sale of his home.
That property—which records indicate is registered in Perry’s name alone—has been undergoing significant renovations over the past five years.
It is unclear whether Bloom has played any role in the latest legal filing against Westcott. However, the actor has largely attempted to remain out of the fray as far as the legal battle is concerned.
Westcott’s legal team has previously failed in its efforts to persuade the judge to call Bloom as a witness—having claimed that he should be asked to testify about the repairs that the singer says had to be carried out on the home.
However, the judge in the case shut down that request, insisting that the lawyers need only rely on testimony from the contractors who were involved in the process, while accusing the legal team of trying to turn the trial into a “celebrity circus.”
“Why do you need Mr. Bloom to do that, other than to make it a celebrity circus?” Judge Joseph Lipner questioned Westcott’s lawyers in an Aug. 1 hearing, according to Rolling Stone. “Why don’t you just talk to the construction person who actually did it?”
Hollywood actor Chris Pratt and his wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger, were then dragged into the legal saga, after it was reported that they had moved into the Montecito property after leasing it from Perry and Bloom.
The couple, who are in the process of building a custom compound in Brentwood, are said to have been loaned the Montecito property to use while they wait for their new home to be completed.
Westcott’s lawyers had asked the judge in the August hearing to question Pratt about the condition of the home when he moved in, according to Fox News—noting that he could provide key evidence to slap down Perry’s claims that significant damage had been done before she officially took ownership of the dwelling.
The lawyers also pointed out that Pratt and his wife have been closely linked to the property since Perry first expressed interest in it—calling attention to the fact that she became involved in a bidding war with Schwarzenegger’s mother, Maria Shriver, who was also keen to buy the abode.
While Pratt did not take part in that hearing, it remains to be seen whether he will be required to testify in the latest lawsuit between Perry and Westcott.