A California judge on Monday denied a request by Sumner Redstone’s ex-girlfriend to accelerate the legal process to determine whether the media mogul is mentally competent to make his own health-care decisions, according to court documents.
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Manuela Herzer’s legal team had sought a ruling for an accelerated schedule for what is expected to be a complicated legal battle over the care of Redstone, 92, the chairman of Viacom and CBS.
O’Donnell said Monday that Redstone has long considered Herzer family and reaffirmed his wish to keep her as his health care agent when he signed paperwork in September that dropped Holland from his inner circle and moved Dauman up to the No. 2 position behind Herzer. That occurred in October.
On Monday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Clifford Klein rejected this argument for a fast-track procedure, setting a hearing date for January 27, according to court documents.
Herzer’s attorney, O’Donnell, said the hearing had been successful, because the judge had not granted the Redstone motion for an immediate dismissal. At the hearing, Gabrielle Vidal, an attorney for Redstone, said that request was premature, as the court has not yet ruled on the motion to dismiss the case. The case raised new questions about Redstone’s ability to run Viacom and CBS.
The case is In re Advance Health Care Directive of Sumner M. Redstone, BP168725, Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Herzer, 50, filed her probate petition shortly before Thanksgiving claiming the once mighty media mogul didn’t understand what was happening when she was kicked out of his house on Oct 12 and quickly stripped of her duties overseeing his medical care.
Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images for LACMA Manuela Herzer is claiming Redstone is a hapless, sobbing, sex-obsessed invalid. “Ms. Herzer’s baseless demands and allegations are an attempt to take discovery in service of building a record for the post-death trust contest she intends to bring, and have nothing to do with any present (let alone urgent) concern for Mr. Redstone’s protection”.
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“We want our doctor to examine him”, O’Donnell said outside court. She also asked Klein to order a medical examination of Redstone and prescribe him health care. “Mr. Redstone seemed to be his usual self, and joked with me, as is typical”, Gold said, though he acknowledged Redstone’s speech is impaired. The filing described a scene in which Redstone and Dauman chatted about sports and the news of the day in early November. The Viacom CEO said he found the corporate chairman “as engaged, attentive and opinionated as ever”.
