Sumner Redstone's upcoming health care trial may limit the public's access to the hearings as proposed by his lawyers. The call to action comes from concerns for his privacy with regards to medical documents and other related material.
According to Deadline, Redstone's Loeb & Loeb lawyers filed paperwork on April 25 that requested to limit parts of the media mogul's upcoming hearing at the L.A. Superior court scheduled for April 27. Attorney Laura Wytsma said that the move aims to preserve Redstone's privacy by sealing exhibits including medical documents, depositions and other related material as well as restricting public access to the courtrooms.
She said, "If trial testimony and exhibits containing confidential medical information are not sealed, they will be widely disseminated by the media, violating not only Mr. Redstone's privacy rights, but compromising the dignity that this Court has endeavored to safeguard throughout this proceeding." The looming six-day trial aims to find Redstone's next health care agent.
According to Fortune, Redstone's former health care agent and ex-companion Manuela Herzer filed the lawsuit last November to challenge her removal from her position in favor of Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman. Herzer was kicked out of Redstone's Beverly Park mansion in the fall. In the lawsuit, Herzer claimed that Redstone was mentally incompetent calling him a "living ghost" and therefore incapable of making decisions for himself and his companies.
Court documents revealed that Herzer was originally set to inherit $70 million before the 92-year old ailing businessman shifted plans in October. Redstone's attorneys claimed that Herzer was only in it for the millions she was set to receive as opposed to genuine concern for his health.
Meanwhile, it was reported by the Los Angeles Times that Redstone sought to make amends with his daughter Shari following a long family dispute that ordered her exclusion from visits to the hospital or even attending his funeral.
Redstone wrote, "This letter expresses my true feelings, and I am under no duress or coercion when signing it... I wish to put our family back as we were before Sydney (Holland) and Manuela (Herzer), and restore our family relationship to what it was then. This is very important to me." The two feuded publicly back in 2007 over issues of corporate governance and succession.
