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Sumner Redstone Lashes Out at Ex-Lover in First Day of Competency Trial Sumner Redstone, in Competency Trial, Reviles Ex-Lover
(35 minutes later)
LOS ANGELES — Inside a closed courtroom, Judge David J. Cowan and a handful of lawyers on Friday morning watched the media mogul Sumner M. Redstone fight to demonstrate his mental competency in a 30-minute video questioning. LOS ANGELES — In halting but fiery testimony on Friday, the ailing media mogul Sumner M. Redstone appeared to state decisively that he no longer wanted his former companion and one-time romantic partner in his life.
Immediately afterward, reporters, who were barred from the room, hastily inspected a written transcript of the testimony. It showed that Mr. Redstone did not respond to some basic questions but was able to answer others. When asked what his birth name had been, for instance, he remained silent. The executive, who is 92 and in ill health, showed a glimmer of his well-known ferocity, with the conversation filled with profanity. After repeatedly referring to her with expletives, Mr. Redstone said that he hated Manuela Herzer, his ex-girlfriend, who brought the suit challenging his mental capacity. In response to a question about whether he wanted Ms. Herzer to make health care decisions for him, Mr. Redstone replied, “No.”
In the first question, Mr. Redstone was asked who was Manuela Herzer, his former companion and romantic partner, who had brought the suit challenging his capacity. His response denigrated her with two obscene words. He repeated that description of her several times over the course of his testimony, in which lawyers for both sides asked him questions for roughly 18 minutes. “I want Manuela out of my life,” Mr. Redstone said at the end of the session when his lawyer asked what he wanted at the end of the trial. The videotaped testimony was shown after reporters and spectators were cleared from the courtroom, and a transcript was provided to news organizations afterward.
When asked what Ms. Herzer had done to assist in his health care, he struggled to find words and failed to help an interpreter spell out an answer. On viewing the testimony, with its clear assertions about his distaste for Ms. Herzer, Judge David J. Cowan expressed skepticism as to whether her legal team could overcome Mr. Redstone’s current wishes. “Your burden now is a hard one,” the judge told Pierce O’Donnell, Ms. Herzer’s lawyer, in brief remarks as the public portion of the trial resumed.
On viewing the testimony, with its clear assertions about his distaste for Ms. Herzer, Judge Cowan expressed skepticism as to whether her legal team could overcome his current wishes. “Your burden now is a hard one,” the judge told a lawyer for Ms. Herzer, Pierce O’Donnell, in brief remarks as the public portion of the trial resumed.
He added: “I’m not sure we need to hear about all of these shenanigans that did or didn’t happen six months ago.”He added: “I’m not sure we need to hear about all of these shenanigans that did or didn’t happen six months ago.”
The video came on the first day of the trial, in which Ms. Herzer sought to show that Mr. Redstone was mentally incompetent and under the undue influence of others when he removed her last October from an advance directive that would have given her authority over his health care. Mr. Redstone, who is 92 and frail, has not been seen publicly for nearly a year. Apart from its impact on the trial, the transcript of Mr. Redstone’s testimony will be heavily scrutinized for hints as to his ability to play a continuing role at his two big media companies, Viacom and CBS. He is a director, chairman emeritus and controlling shareholder of both media companies.
The trial, in the probate department of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, has attracted widespread attention, both with its plethora of embarrassing details about Mr. Redstone’s love life and deteriorating physical condition, and with the questions it raises about his continuing competence to make decisions about his two big media companies, Viacom and CBS. He is chairman emeritus and controlling shareholder of both. It may also determine whether he can make any further decisions about control of those two companies — control that is expected, on his death or a declaration of incompetency, to rest primarily with a trust. His daughter, Shari Redstone, with whom he is now reconciled after an estrangement, is one of the seven trustees.
As the trial opened, Mr. O’Donnell cast Shari Redstone, the executive’s daughter, as the central villain in a supposed conspiracy to deceive and manipulate him. In his testimony, Mr. Redstone did not respond to some basic questions but was able to answer others — especially those with yes or no answers. The transcript shows that the flow of questions and answers was sporadic, and at one point his interpreter asked that Mr. Redstone’s dentures be adjusted in order to better understand him.
But at times Mr. Redstone’s comments were decisive and showed a glimmer of his well-known ferocity and penchant for profanity.
In the first question, he was asked who Ms. Herzer was. His response denigrated her with two obscene words. He repeated that description of her several times over the course of his testimony, in which lawyers for both sides asked him questions for a total of 18 minutes.
On the video, Mr. Redstone was questioned by Mr. O’Donnell and his own lawyer, Gabrielle A. Vidal, about topics related to his relationship with Ms. Herzer and his health care. In the suit, Ms. Herzer claimed the billionaire lacked the capacity to make the decision last October that removed her from a directive that would have put her in charge of his care.
During the testimony, Mr. Redstone said “yes” in response to a question about whether Ms. Herzer stole money from him but was not able to say how much money she stole. He also confirmed that he once said that she was the love of his life, but that he did not still love her.
When he later was asked by his lawyer why Ms. Herzer was ejected, he said, “She lied to me.”
When asked what Ms. Herzer had done to assist in his health care, he struggled to find words, repeated his obscenities about her, and failed to help an interpreter spell out an answer.
“What’s the first letter?” the interpreter finally asked.
“L. The next letter? H. H. Next letter? I. E. H. E.,” the interpreter continued. “She helped? Helped?”
He also had a hard time spelling out his response to a question about the number of years that he and Ms. Herzer dated.
In response to a question from his lawyer about who he wants to make his health care decisions if he is unable to do so himself, he responded with the name of his daughter: “Shar — Shari.” He also confirmed that he had been seeing his family lately and was happy with the nursing care that he was receiving.
It was the first day of the trial, and Ms. Herzer’s lawyers sought to show that Mr. Redstone was mentally incompetent and under the undue influence of others when he removed her last October from an advance directive that would have given her authority over his health care.
As the trial opened, Mr. O’Donnell cast Shari Redstone as the central villain in a supposed conspiracy to deceive and manipulate him.
“She established a broad intelligence-gathering” network inside Mr. Redstone’s home, “featuring a ring of spies,” said Mr. O’Donnell, in describing what he said was a yearlong effort by Ms. Redstone, then estranged from her father, to get control of his money and media properties.“She established a broad intelligence-gathering” network inside Mr. Redstone’s home, “featuring a ring of spies,” said Mr. O’Donnell, in describing what he said was a yearlong effort by Ms. Redstone, then estranged from her father, to get control of his money and media properties.
In arguments before Judge Cowan, Robert N. Klieger, who represents Mr. Redstone, sharply dismissed the notion of a conspiracy led by Ms. Redstone or the various nurses and lawyers who surround the media mogul. Robert N. Klieger, who represents Mr. Redstone, sharply dismissed the notion of a conspiracy led by Ms. Redstone or the various nurses and lawyers who surround the media mogul.
Instead, he said the plaintiff, Ms. Herzer, had worked to remain in Mr. Redstone’s good graces, and to share his wealth, by weaving lies about other women with whom the media executive had become romantically involved.Instead, he said the plaintiff, Ms. Herzer, had worked to remain in Mr. Redstone’s good graces, and to share his wealth, by weaving lies about other women with whom the media executive had become romantically involved.
Describing Ms. Herzer’s behavior as “classic emotional abuse,” Mr. Klieger sought to focus the case closely on issues related to the advance health care directive from which Mr. Redstone removed Ms. Herzer late last year, after breaking off his relationship with her.Describing Ms. Herzer’s behavior as “classic emotional abuse,” Mr. Klieger sought to focus the case closely on issues related to the advance health care directive from which Mr. Redstone removed Ms. Herzer late last year, after breaking off his relationship with her.
On the same day Ms. Herzer was removed from the health care directive, she was also removed from Mr. Redstone’s estate plan, in which he had planned to give her $50 million and his $20 million Los Angeles mansion.On the same day Ms. Herzer was removed from the health care directive, she was also removed from Mr. Redstone’s estate plan, in which he had planned to give her $50 million and his $20 million Los Angeles mansion.
The first witness to follow Mr. Redstone’s testimony Friday was Dr. Stephen L. Read, a psychiatrist who examined the media mogul in late January and in a report said the executive lacked decision-making capacity.
Dr. Read called Mr. Redstone “a thin shadow” of what he was. He said he rated Mr. Redstone’s dementia, based on an earlier examination, as being “toward the severe end of moderate.”
Dr. Read noted Mr. Redstone’s extreme difficulty in swallowing, and with what he called “language production.” He also described having tested Mr. Redstone with a simple array of colored shapes — circles, triangles, stars and squares — which the executive was asked to identify by pointing. “To my dismay, actually, he did very poorly,” Dr. Read said.
Dr. Read said he saw indications of “major neuro-cognitive disorder.”
He described the overall health care apparatus Ms. Herzer had overseen as “approximating the acuity of an intensive care unit in his home.”
Mr. Redstone’s condition, he said, appeared to have deteriorated rapidly with her departure last October.
“His arithmetic was appallingly bad,” Dr. Read added, though he said he was more troubled by what he deemed inappropriate responses to simple instructions, like a request to stick out his tongue. At that request, he said, Mr. Redstone reverted to a mouth exercise he’d been taught by a speech therapist.“
Dr. Read’s testimony also revealed that Mr. Redstone engages in sports betting with friends and family. Mr. Redstone often doesn’t know who is playing, but the bets are arranged so that Mr. Redstone always wins, Dr. Read said. Mr. Redstone thinks he has a perfect record.