LOS ANGELES — A former companion of the ailing media mogul Sumner M. Redstone, executive chairman of Viacom and CBS, challenged his mental competence on Wednesday in a detailed filing with the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Manuela
Herzer said Mr. Redstone, who is 92, for weeks has been unable to
“communicate reliably or competently manage his own health care” in a
petition with the court’s probate division. The petition specifically
asks the court to determine whether Ms. Herzer, who once had a romantic
relationship with Mr. Redstone, was improperly removed on Oct. 16 from
control of an advance health care directive that gave her authority over
his health decisions.
At
a hearing on Monday, Probate Judge Clifford L. Klein is expected to
consider whether the petition should be treated as an urgent matter.
While
the petition and hundreds of pages of supporting documents focus
specifically on the health care directive that is dated Sept. 3, they
indirectly raise questions about Mr. Redstone’s continuing role at
Viacom and CBS, by challenging his competence.
They also specifically question possible recent changes to a personal trust through which some of his wealth is controlled.
In
one declaration, Ms. Herzer says she believes she was removed as a
successor trustee of Mr. Redstone’s personal trust on or about Oct. 16,
when she says he was not competent to make decisions.
In
an immediate response to the court, lawyers for Mr. Redstone said Ms.
Herzer’s action was born of her suspicion that she had lost her standing
in his estate plan.
“Let’s
be blunt,” that filing said. “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.” That
filing said that Philippe Dauman, the Viacom chief executive, had been
put in charge of Mr. Redstone’s medical care.
Gabrielle
A. Vidal, of the Loeb & Loeb law firm, which represents Mr.
Redstone, also said in a statement: “Ms. Herzer’s claim that she filed
this lawsuit out of concern for Mr. Redstone is preposterous. It is a
meritless action, riddled with lies, and a despicable invasion of his
privacy. It proves only that Ms. Herzer will stop at nothing to pursue
her personal financial agenda.”
Pierce
O’Donnell, one of the lawyers representing Ms. Herzer in the matter,
responded to the Redstone lawyers’ filing, in a statement: “These
vicious personal attacks on her speak volumes about the utter
baselessness of the claim that Sumner is competent to manage his own
affairs. Sumner, with all his faculties, would never have condoned such
vitriol against his longtime confidante.”
Mr.
Redstone’s health has more broadly created a level of uncertainty among
investors and analysts over the future of CBS and Viacom, a $21 billion
media conglomerate with holdings that include the Paramount movie
studio and cable networks like MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon.
He
has not participated in earnings calls this year, as was his custom,
nor did he attend the annual shareholders meetings. Succession remains a
hotly debated topic in the face of speculation that Viacom or CBS could
be sold once he dies.
If
Mr. Redstone dies, a separate trust related to National Amusements, a
theater chain through which he controls CBS and Viacom, will place
voting control with seven trustees, including Mr. Dauman and Shari
Redstone, Mr. Redstone’s daughter.
The
Redstone court filing Wednesday said Ms. Herzer cleared her belongings
from his Los Angeles home on Monday. Her own filings said she had been
supervising his daily care until she was tossed out in an Oct. 12
confrontation with Mr. Redstone’s driver, one of his lawyers and others.
On
asking Mr. Redstone if he wanted her to leave, Ms. Herzer said, Mr.
Redstone “made a grunting noise and began crying uncontrollably.” (Mr.
Redstone’s lawyers countered that he made clear his intention to have
her ejected.)
The
petition said Mr. Redstone asked Ms. Herzer to marry him in 2000, but
she declined. Afterward, they maintained what she called “a close
familial relationship,” even as he became romantically involved with
other women.
Mr.
O’Donnell, in a telephone interview, said he remained uncertain as to
whether Mr. Redstone or his representatives had removed Ms. Herzer from
her position on a personal trust.
“They
won’t tell us,” he said. “I think he may have made changes.” Ms. Herzer
also represented by Bertram Fields and other lawyers from the Greenberg
Glusker Fields Claman and Machtinger firm, a Hollywood powerhouse.
A
spokeswoman for Ms. Redstone said in a statement late Wednesday: “Since
Sumner ejected Manuela Herzer from his home, Sumner’s family members
now have unfettered access to him. Shari is, and has been, actively
involved in Sumner’s care, and any allegation to the contrary is false.”
Ms. Redstone runs National Amusements.
While
Ms. Herzer’s petition raises potentially troubling issues about any
decisions Mr. Redstone may have made recently about governance or
succession in his empire, it also includes an array of embarrassing
assertions about his condition.
Mr.
Redstone, the petition claims, deteriorated markedly and became “unable
to reliably communicate, unaware of his surroundings,” after a split
with Sydney Holland, a girlfriend.
In
an excruciating list of details, the petition said Mr. Redstone is
incontinent, requires suctioning to remove phlegm up to 20 times a day,
“has lately been susceptible to prurient urges and fixations that he is
unable to control” and has lost interest in his prized collection of
tropical fish.
The
petition added that Mr. Redstone was “obsessed with eating steak,” even
while on a feeding tube, and “demands, to the extent he can be
understood, to engage in sexual activity every day.”
A
declaration of urgency that accompanies the petition asks for both
expedited discovery and a medical examination of Mr. Redstone.
Mr.
Redstone’s lawyers on Wednesday countered with court filings from
doctors stating that the billionaire, while suffering from various
ailments, had received a brain scan in recent weeks and the results were
“quite good.”
Ms.
Herzer’s filing follows months of speculation and news reports about
Mr. Redstone’s condition, and sets the stage for a continuing dispute
over his fortune at a time when Viacom, and to a lesser degree CBS, are
confronting severe challenges in their respective markets. Viacom, in
particular, has had ratings declines at its cable networks, and a
shortage of movies at Paramount.
Both
companies are grappling with a soft advertising market and a
generational change in the way consumers watch television, with many
young people now preferring streaming services and other on-demand
options.