LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A Silver Lake businesswoman who agreed last year to collectively pay $6.5 million to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and Katy Perry for interfering in the sale of a former Los Feliz convent to the singer has made her first installment payment, but an archdiocese spokeswoman said today that the option for the entertainer to buy the property has expired.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephanie Bowick held a status conference in the case on Tuesday in which she reviewed a written update on the proceedings prepared by the plaintiffs' attorneys. The last payment by Dana Hollister is due by Jan. 25, 2021, according to a minute order prepared by the judge's clerk.
Meanwhile, archdiocese spokeswoman Adrian Marquez Alarcon released a statement regarding the status of Perry's proposal to buy the property, which is located on Waverly Drive.
“The formal legal option on the Waverly property has expired,” the statement read. “The property is still owned by the (California Institute of the Sisters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary). That said, the archdiocese and Ms. Perry continue to be in communication concerning her continued interest in the property.”
In 2017, a jury found Hollister liable for slander of title, interference with contractual relations and interference with prospective economic advantage. The panel awarded the archdiocese $3.47 million in compensatory damages and $1.57 million to Perry and her company, The Bird Nest LLC.
The jury also found that Hollister acted with malice, oppression or fraud, triggering the second phase of trial to determine if the archdiocese, the institute and Perry should be awarded punitive damages. The panel awarded another $10 million in December 2017 for a total of $15 million.
In June 2018, the parties reached a settlement in which Hollister agreed to pay the archdiocese, Perry and The Bird Nest $6.5 million with interest. The first payment, for $1 million, was due by July 25.
Hollister made her purchase of the onetime convent with the cooperation of Sisters Rita Callanan and Catherine Rose Holzman, who maintained they had the authority to sell the property to the businesswoman. Bowick later canceled the deal.
Holzman and Callanan were among five members of the institute and were the only members who opposed the sale of their former home to Perry. Holzman died in March 2018 at age 89.
The proposed sale to Perry was for $14.5 million, consisting of $10 million in cash and an agreement to provide an alternative property for a house of prayer worth $4.5 million, according to the archdiocese. In contrast, Hollister paid $44,000 and agreed to a contingent promissory note to pay $9.9 million in three years, archdiocese attorney Kirk Dillman said.
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