Katy Perry’s ongoing real estate battle has inspired a new bill to protect elders from financial abuse.
The singer and her partner Orlando Bloom are currently embroiled in a legal scuffle with 84-year-old Carl Westcott, who claims he was on painkillers when he agreed to sell them his home in Santa Barbara.
The couple originally purchased the 9,285-square-foot mansion in July 2020 for $15 million.
But days after the deal was finalised, Mr. Wescott claimed that he had been recovering from surgery at the time of the agreement, and was still recovering from “post-operative delirium”.
Katy and Orlando are not named in Mr. Westcott’s filing, which is against the couple’s business manager Bernie Gudvi.
In a countersuit, Perry is seeking more than $5 million in damages due to loss of potential rental income and for the cost of maintaining other properties that she and Bloom rent.
The songstress is expected to remotely testify this week in the non-jury trial, which kicked off last week.
Amid the ongoing legal battle, the Wescott family are throwing their support behind a new bill called the Protecting Elder Realty for Retirement Years Act, aka The Katy PERRY Act.
According to a website for the act: “The Katy PERRY Act addresses the risks of elder financial abuse, especially as it relates to property and real estate sales and transfers.
“The Act establishes a 72 hour cool-down period during which either party involved in a contract for conveyance of a personal residence, in which one party is over the age of 75, can rescind the agreement without penalty.”
This isn’t the first time Katy has found herself locked in a legal battle with elderly real estate owners.
Back in 2015, the pop star agreed to purchase a former convent in the Los Feliz neighbourhood of Los Angeles for a reported $14.5 million.
However, nuns with the Sisters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart decided to sell the property to businesswoman Dana Hollister before Katy’s deal could go through – forcing her to take legal action.
Katy ultimately won the lawsuit and was awarded millions in damages, but during a post-judgement hearing related to the case one of the nuns collapsed and died in court.
