LOS ANGELES A high-stakes trial to settle questions about the mental competence of media mogul Sumner Redstone begins on Friday in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom.
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Asked by Redstone’s lawyer who should make his health care decisions if he no longer could, the 92-year old former chairman of Viacom and CBS named his daughter, Shari, who is herself a board member at both companies.
Billionaire Sumner Redstone said he kicked his ex-girlfriend – who was the person responsible for his health care decisions – out of his mansion because she lied to him.
After a Redstone lawyer evicted Herzer from the mansion in the gated Beverly Hills community, she was replaced as health-care agent by Dauman and taken out of Redstone’s estate plan; she had been in line to receive US$50 million upon Redstone’s death, along with his residence, valued at US$20 million.
According to Reuters, Redstone needed to be asked some questions a couple of times and needed an interpreter.
“I want Manuela out of my life”, Redstone said at the end of the session when his lawyer asked what he wanted at the end of the trial.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Cowan reviewed Redstone’s video deposition privately, and appeared to sympathize with the ailing Redstone.
O’Donnell said that whether Judge Cowan decided after the bench trial to reinstate Herzer or that someone else should take over, it should not be Shari Redstone – a woman whom her father had sometimes “loathed”.
Herzer’s lead attorney, Pierce O’Donnell, said he hoped that the suggestions of conspiracy in Octaviano’s testimony would help keep the case alive. A summary of Mr Redstone’s taped deposition was released to the media after being played in a closed court on Friday, at the start of legal proceedings to decide whether he should continue to manage his own medical care. Dr. Stephen Read said Redstone could name all his children and great-grandchildren but couldn’t identify basic shapes, colors or perform simple arithmetic. His daughter, Shari Redstone, with whom he is now reconciled after an estrangement, is one of the seven trustees.
Redstone’s attorneys Robert Klieger countered that Redstone had expelled Herzer from his home in October after discovering her lies.
He added that Mr Redstone’s poor health was apparent during his deposition, during which questions had to be repeatedly reformulated and which was briefly interrupted at one point so his dentures could be adjusted.
The verdict could set in motion a chain of events in which Redstone loses control of Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp., media giants worth $42 billion. In a statement Friday, Shari Redstone called that “total fiction with no factual basis”.
Describing Herzer’s behavior as “classic emotional abuse”, Klieger sought to focus the case closely on issues related to the advance health care directive from which Redstone removed Herzer late a year ago, after breaking off his relationship with her. “The evidence will show that he did in fact have the capacity to make that decision”. He also said didn’t trust Ms. Herzer or Ms. Holland.
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Mr. Redstone’s harsh descriptions of Ms. Herzer were reminiscent of Mr. Redstone’s hard-nosed business dealings of the past several decades, during which he was known to be tough, litigious and outspoken.
