CBS CBS Corp

By Keach Hagey 

An ex-girlfriend of Sumner Redstone is suing his daughter, Shari, alleging she hired a private investigator and paid members of Mr. Redstone's staff to spy on her in an effort to drive her away from the 93-year-old billionaire.

In documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday, Sydney Holland sued Ms. Redstone and several members of Mr. Redstone's staff for violation of privacy and inducing breach of contract. She asked for Ms. Redstone to pay "punitive and exemplary damages."

The complaint was in response to the lawsuit that Mr. Redstone's legal team filed in October against Ms. Holland and another former companion of Mr. Redstone's, Manuela Herzer, to reclaim the more than $150 million that the women received from the aging media mogul.

Ms. Holland, 44 years old, who dated and lived with Mr. Redstone from 2010 until he threw her out of his Beverly Hills mansion last year, filed a separate countersuit against Mr. Redstone on Monday.

The mental capacity of Mr. Redstone, who controls Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. through an approximately 80% voting stake in each, has been at the center of a series of legal battles over the past year. Those battles have come amid a power struggle atop Viacom resulting in the ouster of former Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman and rising prominence of Ms. Redstone in the media empire.

Ms. Redstone and her father signed a letter earlier this week from their family holding company, National Amusements Inc., asking the boards of CBS and Viacom to call off the potential merger that NAI had only recently asked the companies to explore.

In Ms. Holland's latest complaint, she alleges that Ms. Redstone paid Mr. Redstone's nurses to secretly tape conversations between him and Ms. Holland and listen to their conversations about marriage, adoption, their sex life and Mr. Redstone's health. Ms. Holland alleges that the nurses were "moles for Shari."

A spokeswoman for Ms. Redstone didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

"Through her frivolous cross-complaint, Sydney Holland has adopted the same pathetic tactics as her cohort, Manuela Herzer," said Mr. Redstone's legal team in a statement. "We expect the jury will see them for who they truly are."

In May, a judge dismissed a case brought by Ms. Herzer that challenged Mr. Redstone's mental capacity.

Write to Keach Hagey at keach.hagey@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 15, 2016 18:19 ET (23:19 GMT)

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