Katy Perry’s legal battle for an old man’s home inspires new legislation

California girls, they’re unforgettable –– especially when they get protective real estate legislation named after them.

Katy Perry, the pop star and wife to “Lord of the Rings” star Orlando Bloom, is now also the namesake of proposed legislation to protect senior citizens from predatory real estate transactions, TODAY reported. The Protecting Elderly Realty for Retirement Years Act, or PERRY Act, would require a 72-hour “cool down” period for real estate transactions where one of the participating parties is over the age of 75, according to the outlet. 

It has received support from lawmakers across the country, according to its website.

The measure is being supported by the family of Carl Westcott, the 84-year-old founder of 1-800-FLOWERS. Westcott, Perry and her manager Bernie Gudvi have been embroiled in a three-year legal battle, slinging civil suits at one another over Perry’s 2020 bid to buy Westcott’s estate in Montecito, California, for $15 million. 

It was reported at the time that Perry and Bloom closed on the 9-acre property for $14.2 million. Montecito, the coastal town famously home to Oprah, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, is a hub for luxury real estate.

Lawyers for Westcott, who suffers from Huntington’s disease, claims he was of “unsound mind” when he agreed to the deal with Perry. Gudvi approached Westcott with an offer just three days after the elderly flower mogul went under a six-hour back surgery. When he tried to back out of the deal after getting off the drugs, Perry and Gudvi refused to let him out of the contract.

His lawyers say the deal is “voidable” because he was high on painkillers when he signed a contract to sell the house he had bought just two months earlier.

The case between Perry and Westcott’s family went to trial in August. Gudvi is now also countersuing Westcott to the tune of $5.9 million, the outlet reported. 

This is not the first time Perry has found herself in a legal battle with the elderly and infirm. The singer took the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary to court after they refused to sell her their eight-acre Los Feliz convent. She ultimately closed on the property for $14.5 million, but not before she spent $2.6 million in legal fees and one of the nuns collapsed and died in court. 

–– Kate Hinsche