Featured Image Credit: John Nacion/ Gilbert Flores/ Variety via Getty Images
Topics: Celebrity, Entertainment, Katy Perry, News, Property, Chris Pratt, Money, Court
Lucy Devine
Topics: Celebrity, Entertainment, Katy Perry, News, Property, Chris Pratt, Money, Court
Chris Pratt has been dragged into Katy Perry's legal battle with a veteran who claims he sold his house while of ‘unsound mind’.
Carl Westcott sold his property in Santa Barbara to Perry - via her business manager Bernie Gudvi - back in 2020 for $15 million.
However, days later, the veteran tried to go back on his decision, arguing he hadn't been of 'sound mind' at the time of the sale.
Westcott suffers from the neurological condition, Huntington's disease, which is an inherited condition that gets worse over time.
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It affects movement, memory and thinking and cannot be cured.
A lawsuit followed, but a judge ruled in favor of Perry and said there was evidence demonstrating that Westcott was ‘coherent, engaged, lucid, and rational’ when signing the contract.
Perry then countersued Westcott, claiming that he owes her $3.25 million in damages because she was unable to rent out the property between September 2020 to March 2024.
An additional $2.29 million has also been added as they claim the property needs to be restored to the condition it was purchased in. The trial was split into two parts and resumed on Thursday (August 21).
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Now, actor Chris Pratt has been dragged into the ongoing drama, due to the fact he is currently renting the property from Perry.
Westcott's legal team has reportedly asked the judge to question Pratt on the damages associated with the property.
Court docs seen by Fox News Digital explain: “Now, just before the Phase 2 Trial, there is new, never-before disclosed evidence that Perry has rented out the Westcott Property to the actor Chris Pratt and his wife (the daughter of Maria Shriver, who the Court will recall from Cristal Clarke’s Phase 1 Trial testimony was bidding against Perry in 2020 to buy the Westcott Property, which is why Perry increased her original $13.5 offer to Westcott to the agreed-on $15 million price).
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“The $2.29 million in estimated repairs was bogus and Perry was able to rent the Westcott Property as-is to Chris Pratt (for what some have rumored to be $150,000 in rent just for this summer).”
Legal expert Christopher C. Melcher explained the claims to Fox News, adding: “Westcott’s defense is that the home could not have had mold and other major issues because Perry rented the place to Chris Pratt.
“But repairs could have been made by Perry before renting the home to Pratt,” he noted. “If so, the subsequent condition of the home when Pratt was a tenant is not relevant to what the home looked like when Perry got the keys.”
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Westcott’s son has also recently spoken out about the ongoing court battle, telling the New York Post: “Katy could’ve walked away at any time with grace and humanity. Instead, she has chosen to fight a dying man in court, all for money. OK, that’s who we’re dealing with here. He is bedridden. He has late-stage dementia and Huntington’s. His ability to speak kind of ebbs and flows. Some days are better than others."
UNILAD has contacted Pratt's representatives for comment, and has previously reached out to Perry.