Katy Perry got off to a rocky start on the first day of her real estate trial Thursday after the judge blasted her lawyers for trying to ambush his courtroom with a surprise video appearance by the pop superstar.
‘It’s outrageous, it’s not nice, it’s unfair,’ fumed LA Superior Court Judge Joseph Lipner on day one of the bitter damages trial in which the singer 40, is seeking millions from 85-year-old dying veteran Carl Westcott over repairs and back rent on the $15million Montecito mansion she bought from him five years ago.
The judge’s tirade came after Westcott’s attorney, Andrew Thomas, revealed that Perry’s legal team had only informed him a day earlier that the singer, who is currently on tour, would only be available to testify at 1:30pm Thursday.
‘I object to that because it’s undue surprise,’ Thomas told the court. ‘I am not prepared yet to question Ms. Hudson’ – Perry’s lawyers asked for her to be referred to by her real name which is Katheryn Hudson.
‘I intend to put on a case in which I will call Ms. Hudson in a certain order and that was not going to be today. It would be extremely prejudicial for her to testify today.’
Perry’s attorney, Eric Rowen accused Westcott’s lawyers of ‘targeting’ her and ‘creating a media circus’.
Katy Perry and her then-fiancé Orlando Bloom said they bought the Montecito home as a place to raise their daughter Daisy
Court Wescott, the son of the previous homeowner Carl Wescott was seen leaving court on Thursday after the first day of trial
‘She has nothing to do with the damages part of this case,’ he added.
But Judge Lipner sided with Thomas, accusing Perry’s legal squad of unfair tactics that he said ‘reflect badly on them and Ms. Hudson.’
He ordered Perry’s attorneys to reschedule her testimony to a later date when she’s available, which was eventually set for Tuesday August 26 at 11am via video.
He also ruled that the pop singer won’t have to take the stand for more than two hours.
Westcott – who suffers from an incurable brain disorder – agreed to sell his 1930s estate in star-studded Montecito to Perry in 2020 for $15million in cash.
Westcott, 85, agreed to sell his 9,000 square-foot home sitting on a 2.5-acre lot to Perry in 2020 for $11.25million, but days later tried to nix the deal by claiming he was under the influence of painkillers when he signed
Perry and Bloom penned a personal letter to Westcott following the sale of the property in 2020, which expressed how grateful they were to have been sold the home
Just days later, he tried to back out of the deal, claiming he was under the influence of painkillers when he signed.
But Perry and her now-ex fiancé, Orlando Bloom, fought him, insisting that they want to keep the 9,000 sq ft home and use it to raise their daughter Daisy – who will turn five on Tuesday, the day her mother testifies.
Westcott sued to get the sales contract voided but, after a nearly four-year court battle, the famous pair won their case to keep the giant property 100 miles north of LA, where other celebrity residents include Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Oprah Winfrey, Ariana Grande, and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Soon after winning the keys to the 9,000 sq. ft. house, the singer went back to court again, this time seeking $6million from Westcott, claiming nearly $2.5million in damages to the sprawling, 2.5-acre property and the $3.5million in back rent she could have charged during her long legal fight.
On Thursday, Perry’s attorneys said they were reducing their damages claim to $1.3million, knocking $1.2million off the bill.
Perry – who is also trying to force Westcott to pay her estimated $3million legal fees – has come under fire from his family members for going after their ailing patriarch.
The family of dying Westcott slammed singer Katy Perry and said they were outraged by her ‘greed’ and entitlement, which they say allows celebrities like her to ‘treat ordinary people like dirt’
They say they are outraged by the ‘greed ‘ of the pop star, estimated to be worth $350million, and have slammed the ‘Hollywood elite system’ that they say allows celebrities like her to ‘treat ordinary people like dirt’.
‘It’s entitled celebrity behavior,’ Carl’s son Chart Westcott, 39, said. ‘She has no sense of fair play, no empathy, zero empathy, quite the opposite.’
Chart said that it was a ‘miracle’ that his bedridden father – who is ‘in horrible condition’ as he receives hospice care for Huntington’s disease – has ‘survived longer than we ever expected’
And he bitterly disputes the millions Perry is demanding for lost rental income and repairs to the estate, which boasts a tennis court, two guesthouses and a pool,
The damages she is seeking are ‘absolutely egregious’, said Chart, whose brother Court is married to Real Housewives of Dallas star Kameron Westcott.
‘There’s no real explanation other than greed. This is such a small deal to be worried about – I think its a matter of privilege.’
Perry hired more than a dozen ‘experts’ to scour the house for faults and argues that the property needed $1.1million in repairs for extensive basement damage caused by flooding from a water leak, and $225,000 to repair the roof of a a guest cottage/poolhouse damaged when an oak tree fell on.
She’s also asking for $3.5million in lost rent that she could have earned on the posh retreat despite stating at the time of the sale that she wanted the house to raise daughter Daisy.
Some 37 names are on the witness list for the non-jury trial which is expected to last 45 days.
Both Court – who was in court Thursday – and Chart Westcott are also on the list while many of the other witnesses are ‘experts’ hired by Perry to tell how the mansion fell into disrepair during the long-running legal debacle.
Bloom, 48, was also subpoenaed by Westcott’s attorneys to be a witness. But judge Lipner excused him, saying he wanted to avoid a ‘celebrity circus’.
Westcott, a veteran of the US Army 101st Airborne was born into a ‘dirt poor’ family in Mississippi but moved to LA where he made his fortune building several successful companies including 1-800-Flowers.
The judge previously ruled that Perry’s ex-fiancé Orlando Bloom will not have to testify in the trial
He and Perry became ensnared in their bitter dispute after he claimed his judgment was clouded by powerful medication and ill health when he inked the deal to sell on July 15, 2020.
He had only purchased the home in May of that year and moved in two months prior to his dealings with Perry’s manager, Bernie Gudvi, who agreed to pay Westcott $3,750,000 more than he had just bought it for.
The then-80-year-old had been discharged from the hospital only four days prior to signing, having undergone a six-hour back operation and he was on a potent cocktail of opiates to numb the pain, according to his lawyers.
When the medication wore off, Westcott said he realized he’d made a mistake and decided he no longer wanted to sell.
‘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,’ his lawyers argued.
But Perry and Bloom’s persisted in their quest to own the mansion and went to court, using Gudvi to front their case.
Then, Westcott’s family took up the fight on his behalf after he became bedridden and mentally incapacitated because of Huntington’s disease, which attacks the brain and can cause progressive dementia.
The famous couple – who split in June after nine years together – won their original case after Judge Lipner ruled that there was ‘no persuasive evidence’ that Westcott lacked the capacity to sign the contract.
‘There are no grounds for rescission. The contract must be respected,’ the judge concluded, leaving only the issue of damages – essentially how big a discount, if any, to award to Perry – to be determined.
In the midst of her litigation with Westcott, Perry bought another luxury home close by in Montecito and recently she rented the Westcott house to actor Chris Pratt, his wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger and their three children.
