Katy Perry is due to recoup $1.8 million from the price of the $15 million Montecito mansion that plunged her into a headline-grabbing real estate war with 86-year-old Texas millionaire Carl Westcott, who also happens to be the father-in-law of Real Housewives of Dallas cast member Kameron Westcott.
A judge signed a proposed order Tuesday that will award Perry the $1.8 million so long as neither party files a viable objection in the next ten days. The money represents the damages Perry suffered when Westcott bailed on their $15 million purchase agreement in 2020, claiming he lacked capacity when he signed it. Westcott sued Perry through her business manager, trying to overturn the sale, but he lost at a bench trial during the first phase of the legal battle.
Perry had asked for an award of $4.7 million in damages during phase two of the trial. Westcott argued her damages should be limited to only $260,000. In his proposed ruling, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Joseph Lipner found a middle ground. He said Perry deserved $2.8 million for lost rental value while the property was in limbo, and $260,000 for repairs for things like a fallen tree and water damage. But he then deducted $1 million because Perry was able to invest her money elsewhere during the fight, and because Westcott lost interest on that amount.
Rolling Stone‘s attempts to reach lawyers on both sides were not immediately successful on Wednesday.
The battle over the luxury property started soon after Westcott signed the sales contract with Perry in July 2020. Within weeks, the businessman sought to undo the deal. He, his family, and his lawyers would go on to claim he was suffering from a degenerative brain disease, symptoms of dementia, post-operative delirium, and the effects of heavy painkillers following a lengthy back surgery when he finalized the contract.
At the liability trial in 2023, Perry and her lawyers brought in text messages, emails, and witness testimony showing Westcott was alert and cognizant during his sale of the Montecito estate. They showed Westcott was so engaged, he even courted a rival bid from yet another high-profile interested buyer, Maria Shriver, before going with Perry.
Though Perry initially faced public backlash over allegations she tried to push an elderly, ailing veteran out of his home against his wishes, the trial revealed that Westcott purchased the coastal estate on May 29, 2020, just six weeks before signing his deal with Perry’s representative, Bernie Gudvi. Lawyers for Gudvi argued that Westcott badgered his broker about when Perry’s initial offer was expected to land, rejected her initial $13.5 million bid, signed a counteroffer for $15 million on July 15, 2020, actively organized Perry’s tour of his property on July 17, 2020, agreed to extend the deadline on his counteroffer when the initial deadline lapsed, and criticized his agent for requesting a five percent commission.
In his 2023 ruling siding with Perry and ratifying the deal, the judge noted that Westcott’s own medical expert failed to “offer a cogent explanation” that would allow the court to find Westcott “lacked competence” to sign the sales contract.
After Perry prevailed, she placed $9 million in escrow and took control of the property in April 2024, leaving the remaining $6 million of the purchase price unpaid pending the outcome of the damages phase. She alleged the four years she had to wait to take control of the property caused her to lose more than $3 million in fair-market rental income, and that Westcott’s “lack of maintenance” while the litigation was pending caused $2.29 million in necessary repairs to get the property back up to the condition it was in 2020. (The estate includes a main house, a three-bedroom guest house, a one-bedroom pool house, a gym building, a pool, and an equipment building.)
In court filings, Perry and her reps alleged the house suffered “pervasive flood damage” in early 2024 and had a large tree fall on a structure, cracking its foundation. Westcott claimed Perry only produced estimates for the repair work, not final contracts or receipts.
At the hearing earlier this year, Westcott’s lawyer, Andrew J. Thomas, said that after Perry took control of the house, she rented it to actor Chris Pratt and his wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger, Shriver’s daughter. He argued the house had to have been in good shape for Perry to attract such high-profile tenants.
Perry’s lawyer said the singer wasn’t seeking “reimbursement” for her completed work because she wasn’t obligated to restore the house and ultimately made some changes. He claimed the onus was on Westcott to hand over the house in its purchase agreement condition, and for that reason, the estimates Perry submitted reflected what it would have cost to get the property back to the original condition.
Perry has been in the news repeatedly this year. She took an 11-minute trip to sub-orbital space aboard one of billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rockets in April, shortly before news of her split from longtime partner Orlando Bloom surfaced in June. She was later spotted dining out with Justin Trudeau, the former prime minister of Canada. He later popped up at one of her concerts, fueling ongoing speculation that the two are dating.