Sumner Redstone’s attorneys filed a Motion to Dismiss on Monday, asking a Massachusetts court to throw out Philippe Dauman’s and George Abrams’ lawsuit against the media mogul.
Or at the very least, let them come to California and try their case there, the lawyers implored. After all, the 93-year-old ailing Redstone cannot travel across the country to defend himself.
In an appendix to the motion, Redstone’s side answered the 11 questions posed last week by the presiding Probate and Family Court judge (see below).
In response, Dauman’s and Abrams’ spokesperson said in a statement to TheWrap: “The motions to dismiss of Shari Redstone and the lawyers hired for Sumner represent continued efforts to avoid a fair inquiry into Sumner’s well-being and how various documents came to be. The facts will only come out through discovery on an expedited basis. We are urging the court to allow the inquiry to proceed as quickly as possible.”
Dauman and Abrams initially filed suit when they were booted from the Sumner M. Redstone Trust, as well as the National Amusements, Inc. Board of Directors. There’s since been an attempt to toss them from the Viacom Board too, along with three others.
The question at the center of this ongoing Viacom drama is pretty simple: Is Redstone mentally capable to have made the recent decisions, or is his daughter Shari Redstone perhaps pulling the puppet strings?
Here are screenshots of that answer-providing appendix:
