On May 20, an attorney for Sumner Redstone faxed a letter to Dauman, notifying him that he and another Viacom board member, George Abrams, were being removed from their influential roles on the Sumner Murray Redstone trust.
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BOSTON (AP) – Media mogul Sumner Redstone, fighting back against charges that he’s mentally incapacitated, said Friday that not only is he competent but he was backed by a majority of trustees when he stripped Viacom’s CEO of key positions last month.
Sumner Redstone’s National Amusements Inc amended the bylaws of Viacom Inc (VIAB.O) to require unanimous approval from Viacom’s board for any deal related to Paramount Pictures, creating a new hurdle for Chief Executive Philippe Dauman’s plan to sell a stake in the movie studio.
The NAI trustee’s ratification of the Dauman and Abrams ousters is “null and void” as Sumner didn’t have the ability to OK the move, Dauman said in court papers.
Viacom said in February it was exploring selling a portion of Paramount after a number of buyers expressed interest.
The Massachusetts legal action looks into whether Dauman and Abram’s removal was valid, and Keryn Redstone said she would support that effort. They also stated at the hearing that in the six months since Dauman gave a sworn declaration in a prior case that Redstone was “engaged and attentive”, there’s been no diminished mental capacity.
The ruling will drag out for at least another few weeks the continued drama between Viacom executive chairman and CEO Philippe Dauman and Redstone. National Amusements is headquartered in nearby Norwood, Mass. Monday’s filing likewise defends Dauman’s previous statements from a November affidavit in another lawsuit of Redstone’s competency explaining Sumner Redstone as “engaged” and “attentive.”.
“We all continue to have great respect and affection for Mr. Redstone, but he is clearly being manipulated by his daughter, Shari”.
Attorneys for Dauman and Abramspresented a dire picture of Redstone’s condition, in which he requires a feeding tube and suffers cognitive impairment, at one point suggesting that he was “hanging on to life by a thread”.
“Mr. Redstone exercises daily and has gone on recent excursions to visit with his grandson and also with friends in Malibu”, said Gold.
Dauman and Abrams want an independent expert to examine Redstone.
Viacom Inc., a media conglomerate based in NY, owns the Paramount Pictures movie studio and pay TV channels such as MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and BET. REDSTONE’s lawyers insist the case does not belong in the state.
The outcome of the court cases, and who ends up controlling the trust and the National Amusements board, will have wide-ranging implications for Viacom and CBS shareholders and could result in changes at the top of both companies, possibly through mergers and acquisitions.
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Fagen asked for a speedy trial citing Redstone’s poor health and asked Judge George Phelan to order a thorough evaluation of Redstone to help determine whether he made the decision to remove Dauman and Abrams.
