Katy Perry is suing an 85-year-old dying, disabled veteran over a long-standing property dispute.
Perry is demanding $5 million in a lawsuit against the disabled veteran who owned a $15 million Montecito, California home she purchased more than five years ago.
The Firework singer’s long-running housing dispute began in July 2020, when she and her ex Orlando Bloom purchased an eight-bedroom estate from Carl Westcott. In a note to him at the time, the high-profile pair begged him to accept their offer, said they were expecting a baby the following month and believed the home would be the best place to welcome her and raise her.
Within days of the sale, Westcott, 86, a former army serviceman, sought to withdraw from the deal, arguing he lacked the mental capacity to comprehend the contract because he was on pain medication after back surgery when he signed.
In December 2023, a judge eventually ruled in Perry’s favor, saying Westcott had offered no convincing evidence that he was incapable of consenting. Perry’s lawyer also said Westcott had a backup offer from Maria Shriver, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s former wife.
The singer then countersued for $3.25 million, claiming losses from being unable to lease the property during the court battle, plus $2.2 million for alleged repair work to restore the home and $3 million in legal costs.
By that stage, Westcott was bedridden and living with Huntington’s disease, a degenerative neurological condition.
He is currently in a hospice receiving around-the-clock care.
His son, Court Westcott, has spoken about the strain the case has put on his father’s health, saying an apology would be welcome.
Now, Perry is demanding almost $5 million to account for damages she says he caused with extended litigation over the real estate sale.
“The optics of a millionaire pop star demanding hefty damages from a very ill man are terrible,” Abesi Manyando, a PR strategist based in the US told The Telegraph. “This isn’t just a lawsuit, it’s now a David and Goliath narrative – a global superstar with wealth, legal resources and leverage versus an elderly, declining veteran who already lost his home. And that dynamic carries emotional weight.”
It’s not the first time Perry has been locked in a bitter legal battle with the elderly.
Back in 2018, a nun who was involved in a lawsuit with the pop star over the sale of a convent in Los Angeles collapsed and died during a court appearance related to the case.
Sister Catherine Rose Holzman, 89, was a member of an order of elderly nuns involved in a dispute over the sale of their convent.
Hours before her death, Holzman spoke to local media, decrying the ruling clearing the way for the archdiocese of Los Angeles to sell the convent to Perry.
She told Fox 11 Los Angeles: “To Katy Perry, please stop.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
