The headline in The New York Times, “Trial on Sumner Redstone’s Mental Competence Set for October” (July 28, 2016), shouts the news involving one of America’s richest individuals, a 93-year-old billionaire in poor health, whose own daughter is being accused of having “unduly influenced” him to dismiss two trustees, described as his “longtime confidants.” In another recent case, also involving Redstone, a suit brought by his “former companion” was dismissed without the judge ruling on Redstone’s mental capacity, while at the same time finding that he “suffers from either mild or moderate dementia.”
Similar tales have provided fodder for tabloid sensationalism and for more traditional news reporting. Take for example, the case of the famed Broadway producer, David Merrick, who, after recovering from a stroke at the age of 82, was described by The New York Times on March 24, 1994, as sitting in a wheelchair in our state’s Court of Appeals, while his lawyer argued against an application by his wife, who was younger than he by 32 years, to compel him to adopt a 6-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl, whom he had only met on four occasions. What was instructive in that case was that it was his second marriage to the same woman, whom he accused of taking advantage of him while he was incapacitated in order to gain control of his fortune by creating heirs whom she would control on the basis of his adoption of them.
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