83-year-old Carl Westcott is embroiled in a costly legal dispute with Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom over a $15 million property he allegedly sold to them while under medications for pain management.
In July 2022, Carl committed to selling his Santa Barbara mansion to the "I Kissed A Girl" singer. Unfortunately, after his major back surgery, he experienced adverse effects from the medication and had second thoughts about it. He attempted to cancel the sale but said Perry wouldn't budge on her acceptance.
His attorney has brought forth a legal case, claiming that their client suffers physical decline due to Huntington's Disease. It was reported that Westcott had recently endured a six-hour operation days before being presented with the real estate agreement on July 14, 2020.
According to the elder's attorney, "Before the delivery of the proposed written contract, Plaintiff had not granted any real estate broker a listing to market his home sale. In contrast, the elderly Plaintiff had recently purchased and moved into his home two months earlier."
"When Plaintiff entered the contract, he was under the influence of several intoxicating pain-killing opiates that his physicians instructed him to take when he was discharged from the hospital a few days earlier."
The defense counsel argued that the Plaintiff had been drugged with morphine-based medications, causing him to be disoriented and intoxicated. This impairment severely reduced the Plaintiff's mental abilities, rendering him incapable of knowing or understanding the consequences of his signed contract.
As such, it was determined by the court that he could not have given free, voluntary consent for said agreement.
According to the legal action, Bernie Gudvi, a representative for Katy and Orlando, presented a deal for more than Carl had paid for the home they acquired two months prior.
On July 24, 2020, Carl received correspondence from a lawyer representing not only Bernie but also Orlando Bloom and Katy Perry.
The letter indicated that despite Carl's attempt to end the deal, the clients were still interested in purchasing his house and that he was obliged to complete the sale as planned.
The trial process is set to begin later this month, but Carl has requested that his expert witness, Dr. Garry W. Small, be allowed to testify despite Bernie's attempts to bar him from doing so, according to a report by Radar Online.
Veteran Carl designated Dr. Small as an expert witness to assess whether he possessed decisional capacity when signing a contract.
To provide an accurate evaluation, Dr. Small undertook extensive research and interviews with various parties invested in his case: multiple treating physicians, two adult sons, a longtime executive assistant named Ms. Beth Prothro, and even spent three days conducting a personal examination of Mr. Westcott at a mental health clinic in Dallas.
The attorney for Dr. Small stated that he could provide an incomparable account of Huntington's Disease, how it affects dementia, and the particular brain areas impacted (namely memory and executive decision-making).
Furthermore, he can chronicle Mr. Westcott's mental state from the time of diagnosis in 2015 till when he signed the contract five years later, on July 15, 2020.
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