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   (FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL 11/27/15) 
   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. She was replaced as his health-care agent by Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman, meaning Mr. Dauman will have the authority to make health decisions for Mr. Redstone in the event he is incapacitated. In a petition filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, Ms. Herzer alleged Mr. Redstone wasn't 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.

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," said Gabrielle Vidal, an attorney at Loeb & Loeb, in a statement.

Ms. Herzer 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.

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. Mr. Redstone controls Viacom and CBS through National Amusements Inc.

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November 27, 2015 02:47 ET (07:47 GMT)

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