A judge has agreed to hear Sumner Redstone’s granddaughter’s request to review documents outlining the settlement between Viacom and National Amusements struck last week.
Keryn Redstone had counter-sued during the three-month legal battle between her billionaire media-mogul grandfather and his formerly estranged daughter Shari, and was not involved in the settlement talks that resulted in former Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman’s exit from the company.
According to Keryn Redstone’s attorney Pierce O’Donnell, she wants to review the terms of the settlement to ensure her grandfather’s interests are protected.
Judge George Phelan will also decide on Friday whether Sumner Redstone will be forced to undergo a mental competency examination, which his granddaughter also supports.
“Keryn Redstone seeks these documents so that she can review for herself whether the settlement adequately protects Sumner Redstone and the trust beneficiaries, or whether it is a back-room deal between Shari Redstone and others seeking to benefit from Redstone’s media empire,” O’Donnell wrote in a statement. “On Friday, Judge Phelan will also decide whether Sumner Redstone will undergo a mental examination to evaluate his competency and susceptibility to undue influence. It has always been Keryn’s top priority in this case to make sure that Sumner Redstone’s interests and wishes are protected, and the hearings on Friday are a part of this.”
Keryn, 34, has previously maintained that her aunt Shari has blocked her from seeing her grandfather, whose former companion and caretaker, Manuela Herzer, has also played plaintiff and defendant in a number of previous legal actions over Sumner’s competency. Keryn claims she and Herzer were the “two firewalls protecting Sumner from opportunists like Shari,” whom a lawsuit filed by Keryn earlier this month says engineered a coup “to seize control of her father,” calling it a “kidnapping.”
As part of the settlement, Dauman — once Sumner Redstone’s closest confident — will depart Viacom in September with a $72 million golden parachute. Dauman had advocated for a sale of 49 percent of Viacom-owned Paramount Pictures — with China’s Dalian Wanda Group the erstwhile leading candidate to buy — and will be given the opportunity to present his case to the new Viacom board, although with Sumner Redstone resolutely opposed to selling any part of Paramount, any deal appears like a long shot.