Years ago, I litigated a case against Richard Carpenter (his Trust) of The Carpenters fame. It wasn’t just my client involved; in fact, my guy really didn’t belong in the case, but it was over real estate. And disputes over real estate get ugly. Specifically, it was over a driveway and the use of a shared driveway. Carpenter had Ivy League lawyers, and so did the other defendant. My guy was caught in the litigation web. He didn’t really have anything to do with the driveway dispute, but he was sued anyway.

We settled out. I watched from afar as the two titans with lots of money and fame fought each other at trial and later, on appeal. It seemed to me that their dispute could have been settled if they were reasonable. But they weren’t. The litigation took five years. If I guessed, the attorney fees totaled over a million dollars. Who got what they wanted? The lawyers certainly did.

In July 2020, at the height of the pandemic scare, Orlando Bloom and Katy Perry were looking for a home in Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara County is gorgeous and is home to lots of overpaid self-indulgent celebrities, principally Al Gore and Oprah.

Bloom and Perry, through their “people,” found a home they wanted. Their business manager made an offer for more than the owner, Carl Westcott, had paid less than two months prior. The house was not on the market. Apparently, the celebrity pair had their business manager, through a real estate broker, make an offer Westcott couldn’t refuse or, perhaps, an offer Westcott had no capacity to understand.

Westcott (now 83) was in the fifth year of having been diagnosed with Huntington’s disease. One of the things Huntington’s does is cause dementia. Westcott had limited mobility due to the degenerative disease, and on July 11, 2020, when the buyers’ offer was put in front of Westcott, he was also high on painkillers prescribed after a lengthy back surgery. It seems clear that multiple red flags were flying – but heck, at a four percent commission ($600,000), the agent was pretty happy to see the 80-year-old sign the real estate contract and listing agreement.

Within a few days, Westcott had come down from the painkillers. He realized what happened and didn’t want to sell the home he had planned on dying in. He told the agent and the business manager named Bernie Gudvi that he didn’t want to sell.

The reply from Bloom and Perry through their representative was swift. Nope, they wanted the property and would enforce the contract. Get out. Westcott told them that he was not capable of understanding what he had signed and told them why. Nope. Gudvi and the celebrity couple wanted his home.

Westcott sued Gudvi, the music bigshot and business manager. The suit is seeking rescission of the contract and declaratory relief. The Complaint was filed in Los Angeles County three years ago and is set for trial this month. I only know what is stated in the Complaint, but taken as true, this contract had no business going forward. If, as the Complaint states, Westcott was suffering from the ravages of Huntington’s and was on multiple painkillers, he lacked the mental capacity to enter into a contract to sell a stick of gum, let alone his home. This seems to fit “incapacity” pursuant to California Probate Code sec 811.

The real estate agent (the agency was representing both sides of the sale), in my opinion, knew or, at the very least, should have known Westcott lacked the capacity to sign a contract. The agent was and is fiduciary. He or she had, in my opinion, an obligation to tell Westcott to seek counsel. But there was a $600,000 commission at stake.

The matter will be heard at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. This is an equitable issue and should be tried before the judge.

Westcott was an old man suffering from Huntington’s and was on prescribed painkillers when he signed the contract. Just based on what I have seen in the Complaint, Westcott should prevail.

Why Gudvi, Bloom, and Perry didn’t just walk away isn’t a mystery to me. I’ve seen it before. It is what celebrities generally do because they can.  If they want something, they will shank anyone to get it. With celebrity comes privilege, I guess. Even if it’s at the expense of an old man suffering from a fatal disease.