Image by Huntley Paton via Wikimedia Commons
A judge ruled Thursday Katy Perry’s lawyers are entitled to view emails that may shed light on whether a businesswoman tried to interfere with the singer’s ability to acquire a former convent in Los Feliz from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephanie Bowick ordered attorney Randy Snyder, who represents restaurant owner Dana Hollister, to turn over to Perry’s lawyers 15 communications between his client and lawyer Wendy Coffelt.
“I’m going to order that everything be produced,” Bowick said.
Bowick also ruled that Hollister must pay $10,000 in financial sanctions to Perry, far less than the $78,000 in legal expenses the singer’s lawyers sought for what they say was an effort to get to get various documents that began last October.
Coffelt has claimed to represent the California Institute of the Sisters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary and so there is no attorney-client privilege between her and Hollister, according to Perry’s lawyers, who also represent her company, Bird Nest LLC.
Perry attorney Eric Rowen said he and the singer’s other lawyers have received some, but not all of the information they sought. Perry’s lawyers want the information to prepare for depositions and an eventual trial of the remaining issues their client and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles have against Hollister.
Two of the institute’s five nuns, Sisters Rita Callanan and Catherine Rose Holzman, tried to sell the convent to Hollister last year. But the archdiocese sued Hollister last year and her interest in the property was nullified by Bowick in April.
The proposed sale to Perry would be for $14.5 million, consisting of $10 million in cash and an agreement to provide an alternative property for the house of prayer worth $4.5 million, according to the archdiocese. In contrast, Hollister paid only $44,000 and agreed to a contingent promissory note, according to the archdiocese.
—Staff and wire reports
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