Sumner Redstone's Competence Questioned in Court Petition
November 25 2015 - 06:06PM
Dow Jones News
By Keach Hagey
Sumner Redstone, the 92-year-old controlling shareholder of
Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp., lacks the capacity to make decisions
about his health care and can't follow even brief conversations or
sign his name unassisted, his former girlfriend said in court
documents filed Wednesday.
Manuela Herzer, who once dated Mr. Redstone and has in recent
years lived in his Beverly Park mansion and helped oversee his
medical care, was thrown out of the mansion last month and replaced
as his health-care agent by Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman.
In a petition filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Ms. Herzer
alleges that Mr. Redstone was not of sound mind when this decision
was made.
"I am convinced that if Sumner indeed signed anything himself
that day, he lacked the mental capacity to understand what he was
signing, much less the legal and practical significance of the
documents he signed," Ms. Herzer said in the petition.
She asked the court to determine that Mr. Redstone lacked the
mental capacity to remove her from her role in his health care in
mid-October, and to find that he currently lacks the ability to
make his own medical decisions, essentially triggering her role as
the active agent of his care.
She also painted a picture of an elderly media mogul in rapidly
declining health and estranged from his children, including his
daughter, Shari Redstone, who serves as vice chairman of the boards
of both Viacom and CBS. According to court documents, Mr. Redstone
must be carried around the house, no longer reads or watches the
financial news he once avidly followed, and is unable to talk
"except brief grunted responses." Yet he remains "fixated on having
sex on a daily basis" and eating steak, despite his doctor's
warnings against both.
Mr. Redstone's attorneys responded forcefully to Ms. Herzer's
petition on Wednesday with their own court documents, saying Ms.
Herzer's application was all about her "personal financial agenda"
and fears that she will be cut out of Mr. Redstone's will.
"Ms. Herzer's claim that she filed this lawsuit out of concern
for Mr. Redstone is preposterous. It is a meritless action, riddled
with lies, and a despicable invasion of his privacy. It proves only
that Ms. Herzer will stop at nothing to pursue her personal
financial agenda," said Gabrielle Vidal, an attorney at Loeb &
Loeb, in a statement.
The subject of Mr. Redstone's health and mental competence has
remained a topic of intense interest among Viacom and CBS
investors, given his roughly 80% voting stake in each. Viacom
investors have been particularly concerned, with the stock down
about 30% so far this year.
Mr. Redstone controls Viacom and CBS through National Amusements
Inc. Those interests will pass to his grandchildren and their
descendants upon his death or if he is deemed incapacitated,
according to a statement in May from Mr. Redstone.
A seven-person trust will manage the holdings by majority vote.
The trust will include Shari Redstone; her son Tyler Korff; Mr.
Dauman; David Andelman, a CBS board member; George Abrams and
Norman Jacobs, lawyers who have worked for Mr. Redstone and his
family; and Leonard Lewin, an attorney for Phyllis Redstone, Ms.
Redstone's mother and Mr. Redstone's former wife.
Write to Keach Hagey at keach.hagey@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 25, 2015 17:51 ET (22:51 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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