A California judge ruled in favor of pop icon Katy Perry and her fiancé, actor Orlando Bloom, Wednesday, forcing the eviction of Carl Westcott, a disabled United States veteran, from a mansion in Montecito, California.
According to The New York Post, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Joseph Lipner ruled that Westcott, age 83, did not have substantial evidence to support the claim that he did not have the mental capacity required to agree to a contract with Perry, age 38, and Bloom, age 46, to sell the California mansion. Following a 10-day waiting period, Lipner’s ruling is expected to be permanent.
“Today’s proposed decision is clear — the judge found that Mr. Westcott could not prove anything other than he was of perfectly sound mind when he engaged in complex negotiations over several weeks with multiple parties to transact a lucrative sale of the property that netted him a substantial profit,” Eric Rowen, attorney for Perry, said in a statement to People.com after Wednesday’s decision was announced.
“The evidence shows that Mr. Westcott breached the contract for no other reason than he had changed his mind,” Rowen continued. “We look forward to wrapping this matter up at the scheduled damage trial phase set for February 13 and 14, if not before.”
During the trial surrounding Westcott’s apparent breach of contract, the elderly veteran’s attorney claimed that Westcott had been suffering from dementia, a degenerative brain disease, and confusion following a back surgery when he originally agreed to sell the California mansion in July 2020.
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According to The New York Post, Westcott, who previously served in the U.S. Army under the 101st Airborne Division, purchased the mansion in May of 2020 and intended to live in the mansion “for the rest of his life,” based on court documents. Two months later, Westcott reportedly agreed to sell the mansion to Perry and Bloom.
The court documents state that Westcott claimed the contract was signed when he “lacked the mental capacity to understand the nature and probable consequences of the contract.” Roughly a week after the contract was signed, Westcott claimed to “feel mentally clear again” and sent a letter to the real estate company in an attempt to rescind the contract.
Following Wednesday’s ruling, Chart Westcott, Westcott’s son, told The New York Post, “Where the judge’s ruling may follow the letter of the law, it shows that the law has no spirit. Katy Perry will now have to testify, in person, to receive her ‘damages.'”
“We look forward to her testimony and to her being confronted with possible sanctions for perjury,” he added. “Perry has put herself in a box by claiming that she lost years of rental income and is owed damages, which is counter to her sworn statements about wanting to live in the house.”
Chart Westcott said he hoped Perry enjoyed her “pyrrhic victory” by answering questions from her fans about “twice taking homes from the elderly.” Westcott also claimed that the Los Angeles judge had misspelled his father’s name in Wednesday’s ruling.
