The long-running courtroom battle over a Montecito mansion is pulling Katy Perry and her ex Orlando Bloom back into the fray, with 86-year-old entrepreneur Carl Westcott now seeking permission to subpoena the former couple over roughly $6 million he says he's still owed from the $15 million home sale.
Westcott sued Perry's business manager, Bernie Gudvi, in an attempt to undo the sale of his Santa Barbara-area estate, according to TMZ, which reports that Westcott ultimately lost the case and was ordered to hand over the keys to Perry. As part of that ruling, Perry was ordered to pay the remaining purchase balance of around $6 million, per court documents cited by the outlet. After Perry deposited $9 million into escrow, $6 million of the purchase price remained unpaid. Westcott is now asking a judge for permission to subpoena both Perry and Bloom so he can question them directly about the outstanding balance.
A Contract Battle That Began With a Spinal Surgery
The dispute traces back to mid-2020, when Westcott agreed to sell his newly purchased 8.9-acre Montecito compound — an eight-bedroom, 11-bathroom 1930s Mediterranean estate renovated by architect Lutah Maria Riggs — to Perry for $15 million, just six weeks after buying it himself for $11.25 million, according to The Real Deal. Westcott, a U.S. Army veteran who built companies including 1-800-Flowers and Westcott Communications, suffers from Huntington's disease and had undergone a six-hour spinal surgery just days before signing the agreement, as Law&Crime reports. His family argued he lacked the mental capacity to negotiate the sale.
But Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Joseph Lipner ruled against him in November 2023, finding Westcott failed to prove incapacity. The court noted evidence showing Westcott was “coherent, engaged, lucid, and rational” during negotiations, having actively rejected an initial $13.5 million offer before countering at $15 million, per the Los Angeles Times. Testimony during the trial also revealed that journalist Maria Shriver had submitted an unprompted $13 million offer on the estate in July 2020, which Westcott countered before ultimately walking away to accept Perry's all-cash, contingency-free bid, according to edhat.
Title Changed Hands, Then the Fight Moved to Damages
Perry officially took legal title to the property at 1569 East Valley Road in May 2024 through her LLC, DDoveB, after depositing $9 million into escrow, per The Real Deal. From there, the case shifted into a damages phase, with Perry initially seeking up to $6 million for the delay. Judge Lipner instead issued a proposed order in November 2025 awarding her approximately $1.8 million, based on about $2.8 million in lost rental value, with reductions for retained capital and lost interest from Westcott, according to Complex.
That damages phase also drew other famous names into the proceedings. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled in August 2025 that Bloom would not be required to testify, granting a motion from Perry's legal team after finding his testimony redundant since the needed information could come from third parties, Perez Hilton reported. Separately, court filings from that same month revealed actor Chris Pratt had rented and resided in the Montecito estate from Perry during the litigation, prompting Westcott's attorneys to seek his testimony about the property's condition and repair claims, according to WWBL.
The Latest Fight: Who Gets Paid, and When
Now the dispute centers on execution of the judgment. After Perry deposited $9 million into escrow, $6 million of the $15 million purchase price remained unpaid. Westcott's requested subpoenas would let him question Perry and Bloom directly about the outstanding balance, per the court documents described by TMZ. The request has also been described as an attempt to harass Bloom. A judge has ruled that Bloom would not have to testify in the case.
The years-long saga has done more than generate headlines about an 86-year-old veteran squaring off against a pop star. A proposed 2023 PERRY Act — short for Protecting Elderly Realty for Retirement Years Act — was drafted after the dispute. The proposal would have applied to homeowners aged 75 and older and given either party the option to walk away within 72 hours, according to The Real Deal. It's also not the first time Perry has faced a legal fight with an elderly property owner: between 2015 and 2018, she battled over a former Catholic convent in Los Angeles's Los Feliz neighborhood, a case during which an 89-year-old nun collapsed and died in court during proceedings, according to the Lawyer Monthly.
Perry and Bloom, who share a 4-year-old daughter named Daisy Dove, split in 2025. Whatever remains of their romance, the Montecito house Perry hoped to make a family home with Bloom now sits at the center of a legal fight that shows no signs of wrapping up anytime soon.
