Viacom will pay Philippe Dauman and George Abrams’ legal and public relations bills related to their pending lawsuits against Sumner Redstone and parent company National Amusements, Inc. (NAI).
The corporate generosity is all thanks to indemnification agreements that were signed on Monday, the company revealed Friday morning in an SEC filing.
“Viacom will pay or promptly reimburse Mr. Dauman’s and Mr. Abrams’ costs and expenses (including attorney’s fees, expert witness fees and fees of public relations and other consultants) actually and reasonably incurred,” it read.
However, Dauman and Abrams must repay the company if either are found by the court to have “acted in breach of his fiduciary or other duties to Viacom or that he has not acted in good faith and in a manner reasonably believed to be in, or not opposed to, the best interest of Viacom.”
They also must attempt to recoup the cash from the Sumner M. Redstone Trust and NAI, should the suits demanding Board reinstatement prove victorious. Those agreements were approved in advance by a committee comprised of independent members of the Viacom Board of Directors.
Dauman and Abrams were unceremoniously booted from both the Redstone Trust and NAI Board earlier this spring; they’ve sued to overturn that decision, claiming the 93-year-old Sumner Redstone is mentally incompetent of making such a decision.
On Thursday, Redstone-controlled National Amusements initiated efforts to remove Dauman, Abrams and three other directors from the Viacom Board.