In Twist, Redstone To Be Deposed -- WSJ
May 03 2016 - 03:04AM
Dow Jones News
By Joe Flint and Keach Hagey
Media mogul Sumner Redstone will be deposed in the legal battle
over his mental competency, a surprising twist in the high-profile
case, but he won't testify in person, a California judge said
Monday.
The case, which goes to trial on Friday in Los Angeles, centers
on a claim by Mr. Redstone's former companion Manuela Herzer that
he was mentally incompetent when he exiled her from his mansion
last fall and removed her as his health agent. The 92-year-old Mr.
Redstone is the controlling shareholder of Viacom Inc. and CBS
Corp.
In a ruling issued at the start of a court hearing, Judge David
Cowan said that each side would get to conduct a 15-minute
deposition of Mr. Redstone that would be videotaped. Speech
therapist Anne Lefton can serve as an interpreter for Mr. Redstone,
whose speech is impaired.
The deposition will be played in a closed courtroom on Friday. A
transcript of it will be released to the public afterward.
"I'd like to hear his feelings," Judge Cowan told the courtroom
Monday. "If he says 'Damn it...I don't want her in my life,' then
that is something the court should hear," he added.
Since Ms. Herzer filed her suit last November, her lawyers
repeatedly have pressed, unsuccessfully, to have Mr. Redstone
deposed.
The matter came before the court again Monday after Ms. Herzer's
legal team put Mr. Redstone on their list of witnesses for trial.
Ms. Herzer's lawyers called Mr. Redstone's lawyers' opposition to
an appearance by the mogul "still another attempt on the part of
Counsel to sequester Redstone in Beverly Park and prevent the Court
from seeing for itself his tragically debilitated mental
condition."
Mr. Redstone's lawyer, Loeb & Loeb attorney Gabrielle Vidal,
told the judge that "stress and anxiety could be harmful in the
extreme to him." The court, she said, should "prioritize Mr.
Redstone's health above all."
Ms. Herzer's lead counsel, Pierce O'Donnell, said the judge's
decision strikes "a very fair balance." After the hearing, he said,
"15 minutes should be more than enough for me to establish his
tragic lack of capacity."
The tug of war over whether and how Mr. Redstone would have his
say cuts to the heart of the case. Ms. Herzer alleges that Mr.
Redstone was a "living ghost" who could barely follow the thread of
conversation when he expelled her last October. Mr. Redstone's
lawyers, meanwhile, have maintained that her case has no merit and
that he has the capacity to make his own health-care decisions.
Should the judge decide that Mr. Redstone did indeed lack
capacity, it could have profound implications for the companies
that Mr. Redstone controls. Although he stepped down as executive
chairman of CBS and Viacom in February, he controls 80% of the
voting shares of each.
Those shares will move to a trust controlled by seven trustees
in the event he dies or is deemed incapacitated. While the ruling
in the case wouldn't trigger the trust directly, it would increase
pressure on the trustees to begin their own process of examining
his capacity.
Write to Joe Flint at joe.flint@wsj.com and Keach Hagey at
keach.hagey@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 03, 2016 02:49 ET (06:49 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
CBS (NYSE:CBS)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2024 to Mar 2024
CBS (NYSE:CBS)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2023 to Mar 2024