Judge Denies Request in Redstone Lawsuit
April 21 2016 - 12:30AM
Dow Jones News
Sumner Redstone's granddaughter won't be permitted to join his
former companion as a petitioner in a lawsuit challenging his
mental competency, though she will be a witness in the trial.
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge on Wednesday denied a motion
by lawyers for the former companion, Manuela Herzer, to add the
granddaughter, Keryn Redstone, as a co-petitioner in the case,
according to lawyers for both Ms. Herzer and Mr. Redstone.
Ms. Herzer is claiming that Mr. Redstone lacked mental
competency when he threw her out of his mansion and removed her
last October as his health-care agent in the event he becomes
incapacitated. Ms. Herzer was replaced as health-care agent by
Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman. Mr. Redstone's lawyers have argued the
suit is without merit and have been fighting it. A trial is set for
May 6.
Mr. Redstone, 92 years old, controls 80% of the voting stakes of
both Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp.
On Wednesday, Ms. Herzer's lawyers also withdrew their motion to
have Mr. Redstone examined by a neurologist.
However, the judge did grant Ms. Herzer's lawyers a victory in
deciding he would allow them to expand the time period in question
for considering Mr. Redstone's competency. If they successfully
argue that Mr. Redstone lacked competency last October and
invalidate the change in health-care agent that happened at that
time, then a more recent health-care agent change could also be
deemed invalid. On April 4, Mr. Redstone named his daughter, Shari,
as his health-care agent, replacing Mr. Dauman.
"Philippe never asked to be health-care proxy," said a Viacom
spokesman. "He just did it for his colleague and friend." A
spokeswoman for Shari Redstone declined to comment.
The most recent change in health-care agents came about in the
midst of settlement talks earlier this month, though the change was
made separately from those discussions. The settlement talks
ultimately broke down.
In a declaration filed Tuesday, Keryn Redstone accused her aunt,
Shari Redstone, of threatening to kill her and pushing for a "do
not resuscitate" order for Mr. Redstone against his wishes. The
spokeswoman for Shari Redstone said the claims were false.
Write to Keach Hagey at keach.hagey@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 21, 2016 00:15 ET (04:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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