Katy Perry must be losing a spot in heaven while singing "Roar" after she won a legal battle against a group of nuns on Wednesday about buying a convent owned by the church.
A judge in Los Angeles announced that the court's decision favored the "I Kissed A Girl" singer, Katy Perry, instead of the nuns to sell a Los Feliz convent to a competing buyer. This victorious decision made Perry one step closer in buying the eight-acre real estate property.
According to Variety, the convent is a highly coveted real estate property and that Perry is offering to buy it for $14.5 million, while the nuns who used to live there tried to sell the property to Dana Hollister, an entrepreneur, for $15.5 million.
A Catholic archbishop said that the nuns are not the owner of the property and that he was the one who offered the convent to Perry. The judge from Los Angeles County Superior Court Stephanie Bowick said that after thorough investigation of the deed papers, the findings show that the nuns' attempt to sell it to another buyer is improper and illegal. Furthermore, the LA archbishop should have the authority to sell the property and that the nuns did not clear selling the property with him.
In an article of The Wrap, lawyers of the famous singer said that they are pleased with the court's decision and that it means that their client can buy the property. "We won the real property issues," Attorney Eric Rowen said.
However, John Scholnick, the lawyer representing the nuns said that the battle is not yet over and that he is considering an appeal from his clients, LA times reported. "As far as I'm concerned, it's still game on," the lawyer said.
The nuns from The Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary argued that they have the right to sell the convent which is one of the assets of the order's nonprofit institute. In addition to their claims, their action of selling the property for $15.5 million to Dana Hollister is legal. However, the court ruled that the church has more jurisdiction and authority to sell the property instead of the nuns.
The nuns' group has owned the real estate property for over 40 years already but not lived there recently. Only five of the elderly sisters remain alive at this point. Their supposed buyer Hollister is said to be planning to turn the property into a boutique hotel which raises concerns from some neighbors. At this point, Perry has the approval of the archbishop but she has to seek yet the approval by the Vatican to complete the sale.
