Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in a trial of a lawsuit pitting the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and Katy Perry against a businesswoman they alleged meddled with a contract to sell a former convent in Los Feliz to the singer in 2015.
The Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges Dana Hollister knew she did not have the written authority of the archbishop to buy the property but recorded the deed anyway. The archdiocese and Perry maintain Hollister’s actions forced them to come to court and fight for two years to get the Hollister transaction undone.
Hollister made the purchase through Sisters Rita Callanan and Catherine Rose Holzman, who maintained they had the authority to sell the Waverly Drive property to the businesswoman. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephanie Bowick later canceled the deal.
Hollister’s attorneys have denied any wrongdoing on her part and said her actions never interfered with the contract between Perry and the archdiocese.
Holzman and Callahan are among five members of the California Institute of the Sisters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary and are the only members who are against the sale of their former home to the 32-year-old “Roar” singer.
The property has been vacant since 2011 because it became too costly for the retired sisters to maintain and no longer accommodated their physical needs, and the proceeds from any sale of the property would go to the IHM Institute, according to archdiocese.
The archdiocese is seeking about $3.5 million in damages and Perry is asking for about $2 million.
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 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, archdiocese attorney J. Michael Hennigan has said.
Full story at MyNewsLA.
Disgusting that the Archdiocese takes sides with Katy Perry against our Catholic sisters. Money talks every time. Whatever happened to family communication???? Will the Archdiocese’s attorneys or Katy Perry be putting up tents on Temple Street to house our elderly Sisters?
Boy, you’re really missing the whole point here, and the actual facts of this long-running feud.
The Immaculate Heart Sisters were originally set up under Cardinal McIntyre as an Institute of the Diocese of Los Angeles, and so their property was held in trust with the Archdiocese. These two individual sisters had no corporate legal authority to attempt to transact the real estate sale.
( The IHM sisters first came to Los Angeles archdiocese under Bp. Cantwell in 1924, and they were separated from the original Spanish order, due it a long complicated process. But it was under McIntyre they were established as a prelature with theur property in trust with the archdiocese.
I have discovered that there is another person posting as Anne T. on another website. I am not the one posting there as Anne T., but I have been posting only on here as Anne T. for several years. I doubt I will be posting on here very often any more, but if I do, it will be as Anne TE.
Thank you for letting us know. I enjoy having you on here because you are faithful and respectful.
Is this literally a ‘land grab’ by the Archdiocese? Did the Nuns own the property? Now that some real cash is involved, does Archdiocese now assert ownership interest? Who gets the cash if the Perry sale goes through? Follow the money.
Anne T: Do not let the forces of Un-Goodnes drive you from this site. You are a Valued Contributor and I appreciate your input, even if I do not always agree with it.
Please – Reconsider, and perhaps we can get the administrators for this site to be pro-active in preventing Trolls and others Masquerading as Concerned Catholics from trashing the message boards.
With that in mind, as one who uses his own Name, I strongly recommend we cease to provide Cover for the Anti-Catholic / Pro-Homosex Trolls who regularly trash this site and the honest people who post here.
It is long past time that their Names, Affiliations & Financial Connections to the Church be opened up to scrutiny, as the disruption by the Trolls here only harms the good of…
It is Sad to see elderly Nuns who fear for their future care, being taken advantage of by apparently unscrupulous speculators seeking a big profit from the misery of others.
Caring for our Elderly Religious is an solemn obligation, but throwing the ‘baby our with the bath water’ is not a way to do so.
This Property has manifold potential uses, all in the service of Good – as opposed to a Hollywierd hangout for those seeking to take advantage of the fears of the Elderly to create a party crib.