Mogul a ‘living ghost’, says ex in suit

An ex-girlfriend has set in motion a legal battle over whether 92-year-old billionaire Sumner Redstone, who controls Viacom and CBS, is able to make his own health care decisions.

Manuela Herzer has portrayed the tycoon in court documents as a “living ghost” obsessed with sex and steak, and out of touch with his surroundings. Redstone has trouble controlling routine bodily functions and grasping significance of what doctors tell him, Herzer maintained in a legal filing on Tuesday.

She is asking, after being ousted from his home in October, that the court leave her in charge of Redstone’s health care decisions on the basis that he was not competent enough to sign a directive assigning a new person to the task. “Sumner Redstone is a tragic figure in the waning days of an accomplished life,” Herzer said in a civil suit asking for a California state court hearing on the matter to be hastily convened.

“Once powerful and compelling, he is now unable to communicate reliably or competently manage his own health care.”Attorneys representing Redstone countered in court documents Wednesday that Herzer’s filing is part of a “financial agenda” angling for a share in his estate.