Katy Perry Secures Nearly $5M in Mansion Purchase Legal Victory

Photo Credit: Katy Perry by Joella Marano / CC by 2.0

An LA court says a Texas millionaire has to pay Katy Perry nearly $5 million in legal fees after losing a court battle over the sale of a mansion.

Katy Perry has been awarded over $3 million in legal fees following a multi-year legal battle against Carl Westcott over the sale of a California mansion. Westcott is a Texas millionaire who founded several companies, including 1-800-Flowers.

On Thursday, a Los Angeles judge found that Perry is entitled to over $3 million in attorney fees and nearly $345,000 in court costs via her business manager, Bernie Gudvi. That adds to the $1.8 million Perry and her team were previously awarded when a judge ruled against Westcott in November last year.

The multi-year court battle began in August 2020 when Perry and her then-fiancé, actor Orlando Bloom, bought a $15 million mansion in Montecito, California, from Westcott. But only days later, the businessman tried to rescind the deal, blaming his mental state for accepting the offer. Westcott was diagnosed with the genetic brain disorder Huntington’s Disease in 2015, and more recently, the 87-year-old has been in a memory care facility.

Westcott filed a lawsuit against Perry’s business manager, Gudvi, but a judge ruled there was no evidence to back Westcott’s claims. The judge also noted that he appeared “coherent, engaged, lucid, and rational.” Further, court proceedings revealed that Westcott had actively negotiated the deal with Perry and Bloom’s team, and even rejected a competing offer from California writer and journalist Maria Shriver.

In November 2025, Judge Joseph Lipner of the Superior Court of the State of California in Los Angeles County ruled that Perry was entitled to a total of $1,824,142.84, according to court documents filed at the time. That amount is derived from the $2,795,000 for the rental value of the home during the delayed closing, minus the value of retained capital and Westcott’s lost interest.

Since then, Perry and her team have been seeking to recover $4.5 million in fees for approximately 5,000 billable hours of legal work. But Judge Lipner ruled that this figure was “extremely high” for such a case, even with her celebrity status.

While heavy staffing from an elite law firm might be acceptable for a celebrity client, Lipner determined that the full financial burden could not fairly be shifted to Westcott. But at the end of the day, Westcott still must pay the lion’s share of Perry’s legal fees.

Perry and Bloom initially purchased the property for their family, including their daughter, Daisy Dove. However, it’s unclear if the family ever moved into the home after Perry officially gained ownership in May 2024. Previously, the couple was renting out the estate in February 2025.

The couple, who first met at a Golden Globes afterparty in 2016, ended their relationship in June 2025 after nine years together. The 41-year-old Perry has since been linked to former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (54), while the 49-year-old Bloom has been linked to 28-year-old model Luisa Laemmel.