Unduly Influenced Boss (Sumner Redstone Pt. 5)

Viacom and CBS President, Sumner Redstone, is back in the news this week. He removed Phillipe Dauman and George Abrams, who are directors of Viacom, as Trustees of one of his trusts. They are contesting their removal by alleging he is incompetent. In a huge twist of irony/self-preservation/whatever you want to call it, only six months ago they testified he was competent to remove a girlfriend as his health care proxy.

Three brief points:

1. The stakes in the previous battle involved who could make his health care decisions if he could not (while the real plot was whether he could change his will to disinherit his former girlfriend) while these stakes are who gets to control Viacom and CBS after Redstone's death.

2. I think if Redstone is in a wheelchair, being fed by a feeding tube, and able to communicate only through an aide now, and was in the same condition six months ago, he was likely incompetent at both junctures.

3. Dauman and Abrams have reaped what they have sown. Being close to Redstone is like having an alligator as a pet - it might seem cool, but eventually it (i.e. he) will devour you.

One Disinherited Ex-Girlfriend

The reports of a settlement between Sumner Redstone and Manuela Herzer over her replacement as his health care proxy were premature. There actually was a brief trial over the dispute which ended with the judge dismissing Herzer's suit to remain as his health care decision maker. The judge relied on a 7 minute deposition of Redstone in which the few intelligible sentences he uttered were "Manuela is a ****ing bitch" (twice) and "I want Manuela out of my life. Yeah." Of course Herzer's attorneys have vowed to appeal.

Several points:

1. This case remains about Redstone's will which he changed at the same time as his health care power of attorney. Herzer was reportedly to receive $70 million at his death.

2. Herzer, who smartly declined an offer of marriage from Redstone, has reportedly received $75 million in gifts from him while the woman who did become his second wife only received $10 million because she signed a pre-nup.

3. While Redstone, like the recently deceased Prince, believes he will live forever, at least he has planned for his death by having a will and various trusts.

Paul Walker, Sumner Redstone, and Tom Benson Updates

Briefly updating three stories previously mentioned.

1.  Paul Walker’s teenaged daughter settled a wrongful death lawsuit for $10 million against the driver of the Porsche in which he was riding at the time of his death in 2013.  The settlement actually occurred nearly 18 months ago, but was only recently reported.  Her lawsuit against Porsche for manufacturing an allegedly defective vehicle is still ongoing.  

2.   Sumner Redstone settled the lawsuit filed by his former girlfriend, Manuela Herzner, questioning his capacity to remove her as his health care surrogate and presumably his capacity to revise his will to omit her.  She was allegedly slated to receive $50 million plus an expensive house.  The settlement is reportedly for less than $70 million.   

3.  Last, the Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled that the court records regarding Tom Benson’s competency hearings should remain sealed and unavailable to the public.  After the Harper Lee probate judge sealed her estate proceedings, it seems that Southern courts have a proclivity for privacy while their predecessors acted in hooded robes for their secrecy.  

  

2 Broke Girls? Pt. 2

At the risk of turning this into People Magazine, a quick corollary post to the most recent post on nonagenarian Sumner Redstone and his mental capacity and estate planning.  Sydney Holland is Redstone's 44 year old former live in girl friend who was mentioned in the Vanity Fair article about him.  She is a composite of LA stereotypes - movie producer, real estate flipper, founder of an eco-conscious line of yoga clothing, and president of her own small foundation.  While living with Redstone, she was also involved with a man her own age, George Pilgrim, who had served two years in prison for income invasion.  He lived with his parents in Sedona after being released from prison.  He and Holland would fly between LA and Sedona on private jets.  Pilgrim had been unaware of Holland's relationship with Redstone prior to the Vanity Fair article. When Redstone became aware of Holland's relationship with Pilgrim, he immediately excommunicated her from his house and life.  She and her bodyguards now hang out at the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills.  Pilgrim was the subject of a Vanity Fair update in which his emotions ranged from anger and perplexed road kill to wistfulness.

Points?  Between billionaires, private jets, prison time, Beverly Hills hotels, and body guards, there is little here that applies to most people except "don't act like people in LA."

2 Broke Girls?

Sumner Redstone is the divorced, 92 year old billionaire who owns a controlling interest in both CBS and Viacom. His relationships with two much younger women were profiled in Vanity Fair earlier this year.  Since the publication of the article, and likely because of it, he has severed his contacts with both women.  One of the women, Manuela Herzner, filed suit this week claiming that he lacked mental capacity to remove her as the attorney in fact under his health care power of attorney.   His attorneys have naturally responded that the litigation is a farce, meritless, and a despicable invasion of his privacy.

Three points of some relevance:

1.  The battle is not really about Ms. Herzner controlling the medical decisions for Mr. Redstone - it is about throwing down a marker about his mental capacity in case he revises his will to leave her out of it.

2.  Far be it from me to call a man with two (!) girlfriends who are 40 an 50 years younger than him mentally unfit especially when he questions their motives after they gloat about their relationship in Vanity Fair.

3.  A simple test of his mental faculties could be whether he somehow finds Stephen Colbert funny and a worthy successor to David Letterman as host of CBS's "Late Night."