A California court on Monday rejected a request from the former girlfriend of Sumner Redstone for the 92-year-old media mogul, who controls CBS and Viacom, to undergo an immediate medical evaluation.
Former girlfriend Manuela Herzer filed a lawsuit last week seeking to have Redstone declared mentally incompetent and sought to have him examined to determine if he can still make decisions for himself.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Clifford Klein ruled there was no need for an immediate evaluation.
“I do not find any urgency,” Klein said at a hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court.
The judge cited four reasons in his decision: Redstone sees a personal physician regularly, is not suffering from any critical health condition, has full-time care and has a health agent who is an attorney and chief executive of Viacom.
Herzer had been chosen by Redstone to make healthcare decisions for him in case he was not able to, her lawsuit said, until Redstone executed a new agreement on Oct. 16 to remove her as his health care agent in favor of Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman.
Herzer claims that Redstone was mentally incompetent when he removed her as his health care agent in October and asks that she be reinstated as the person in charge of his medical decisions if he becomes incapacitated.
A hearing will be held in January on a motion from Redstone’s attorneys to dismiss the case.
