Sample Page Title

Former NFL star Michael Oher, the topic of the ebook and film “The Blind Facet,” alleges that the couple who took him in as a young person misled him into believing they had been adopting him — and that they as an alternative positioned him in a conservatorship, based on a court docket submitting Monday.

“The lie of Michael’s adoption is one upon which Co-Conservators Leigh Anne Tuohy and Sean Tuohy have enriched themselves on the expense of their Ward, the undersigned Michael Oher,” stated the petition to terminate the conservatorship in Shelby County Courtroom in Tennessee.

The story of Oher and the Tuohy household grew to become the topic of an Oscar-winning movie, “The Blind Facet,” starring Sandra Bullock within the function of Leigh Anne Tuohy. The movie, primarily based on the Michael Lewis ebook of the identical title, chronicled Oher’s life as a homeless youngster by his faculty soccer profession and eventual NFL stardom.

The Tuohys negotiated a take care of twentieth Century Fox that left Oher with none fee for the rights to his title, likeness and life story, whereas the Tuohy household acquired a contract worth of $225,000 and a couple of.5% of the movie’s web proceeds, the petition states.

The movie has grossed over $300 million, the petition says. A $200,000 donation was additionally made to Leigh Anne Tuohy’s charitable basis.

The petition stated Oher made no cash off the movie, which was launched after he accomplished his faculty profession and wouldn’t have affected his NCAA eligibility.

In accordance with the petition, Oher doesn’t recall signing the settlement for the rights to his life story. The doc has a signature that seems to be his, however “no one ever offered this doc to him with any clarification,” the submitting says.

The petition accuses the Tuohys of a breach of their fiduciary obligation as conservators “so gross and appalling that they need to be sanctioned by this court docket.”

Oher was a ward of the state of Tennessee by the age of 11 and homeless as a baby, based on the submitting. A good friend’s father helped Oher enroll in 2002 in Briarcrest Christian Faculty, the place he performed basketball and soccer.

The households of classmates typically let Oher, who fell by the cracks of a “damaged social system,” keep of their houses, the petition stated.

“The place different dad and mom of Michael’s classmates noticed Michael merely as a pleasant child in want, Conservators Sean Tuohy and Leigh Anne Tuohy noticed one thing else: A gullible younger man whose athletic expertise might be exploited for their very own profit,” the petition stated.

Oher alleges that the summer time earlier than his senior 12 months, after he grew to become a authorized grownup in July 2004, the Tuohys supplied him a spot to dwell with their household of their house. The couple stated they might legally undertake him, and Oher believed them, the petition stated.

Oher realized solely in February that paperwork the Tuohys requested him to signal below the idea that it was a part of the “adoption course of” had been truly conservatorship papers that might strip away his authorized rights, the petition stated.

The Tuohys instructed him that as a result of he was not a minor, the adoption paperwork was titled a conservatorship, the petition alleged.

“At no level did the Tuohys inform Michael that they might have final management of all his contracts, and because of this Michael didn’t perceive that if the Conservatorship was granted, he was signing away his proper to contract for himself,” the petition stated.

The conservatorship was granted till Oher reached the age of 25 or till the court docket terminated the order, however the association was by no means terminated, Oher’s petition stated.

Along with termination, Oher’s petition asks the court docket to subject an injunction barring the Tuohys from utilizing his title and likeness.

A telephone name to Sean Tuohy was not instantly returned Monday, however he instructed the Each day Memphian that he was “devastated” by Oher’s allegations and stated the household didn’t “make any cash” off “The Blind Facet” movie.

“It’s upsetting to assume we might earn money off any of our youngsters,” he stated. “However we’re going to like Michael at 37 identical to we beloved him at 16.”

Sean Tuohy did say that “The Blind Facet” ebook creator Michael Lewis “gave us half of his share,” however he maintained that “all people within the household obtained an equal share, together with Michael. It was about $14,000, every.”

Sean Tuohy additionally stated the conservatorship was a path to serving to safe Oher’s eligibility to play faculty soccer, saying that legal professionals had suggested the household “could not undertake over the age of 18” and that “the one factor we might do was to have a conservatorship.”

He stated he would have been prepared to finish the conservatorship if Oher needed that.

“If he’d have stated, ‘I don’t wish to be a part of the household anymore,’ we’d have been very upset, however we completely would have performed it,” he stated.

An lawyer for the Tuohys declined to remark. The Tuohys’ former representatives at Inventive Artists Company stated they haven’t labored with the household since 2007.

Sean Tuohy Jr., often called SJ, instructed Barstool Sports activities that he believes the problems between Oher and the Tuohy household constructed over time. He alleged that Oher requested for cash from the household round 2021.

He added that he won’t ever say something destructive about Oher.

“I get it, why he’s mad, I perceive,” SJ Tuohy stated. “It stinks that it’ll play out on the general public stage. … That half sucks, however oh nicely.”

SJ Tuohy additionally stated that he was not conscious of the main points of the film deal however knew that his father gave him a test a number of years after the film got here out. He added that he didn’t know why his dad and mom selected a conservatorship over adoption however assumed it was due to Oher’s age.

“There is not any, like, cash being held anyplace. … There is not any energy of lawyer nonetheless being held,” he stated. “I used to be accusatory of my dad and mom to some extent, like I wish to be certain I am not defending the incorrect aspect of this.”