Baltimore attorney breaks down legal implications of court filing by Michael Oher, subject of 'The Blind Side'
BALTIMORE - Michael Oher, a former Baltimore Raven and the subject of the movie "The Blind Side," recently filed a petition in a Tennessee court alleging that the Tuohy family tricked him into a conservatorship and lied about his adoption.
Adam Ruther, an attorney with Rosenberg Martin Greenberg in Baltimore, told WJZ that an adoption and conservatorship are designed to do very different things.
According to the 14-page filling in from a Tennessee court, Oher alleges he was tricked by Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy into signing the legal papers as a part of the adoption process.
"Adoption is about agreeing to have a parent-child relationship and a court ordering a parent-child relationship," Ruther said. "Conservatorship or guardianship is about one-party having control over another, usually when the person is not able to control or manage their own affairs by reason of some infirmity or disability."
In February, Oher learned the papers he signed were actually conservatorship papers, granting the Tuohys guardianship, which gave them control of all his contracts and legal authority to make business deals in his name.
"Conservatorship or guardianship is designed to make it so that one person can make decisions for and control another person's decisions and behavior and money and resources when adoption, particularly when it's between adults doesn't necessarily do that," Ruther said.
Now, Oher is suing to end the conservatorship to stop the Tuohys from using his name and likeness, which includes a share of the money they earned from the award-winning 2009 movie about his life.
"And so that's what Mr. Oher's complaining about here, is that he was told, he alleges he was told, that an adoption wasn't an option," Ruther said. "And so this relationship would be that same kind of relationship, when in actuality, what he alleges, the two he's got was a much greater degree of control over his decisions well into his adulthood than parents would have had if they had adopted."
The retired football player is now demanding a court end the conservatorship and order the tuohys to repay the money made off of his name and story.
"Generally, courts don't order guardianships or conservatorships unless there is substantial evidence to show that it's necessary in order to make sure that the person's affairs are taken care of effectively," Ruther said. "And that's the part that's still unclear."
Oher claims the Tuohys were able to "reap millions of dollars" off the 2009 film, while he "received nothing."
Sean Tuohy told the Daily Memphian website that he was shocked by Oher's allegations.
Tuohy went on to say they are "devastated" and "it's upsetting to think we would make money off any of our children. But we're going to love Michael at 37 just like we loved him at 16."
Tuohy — who was portrayed by Tim McGraw in the blockbuster hit — said Monday that Oher's allegations aren't true.
"We didn't make any money off the movie," he told the Daily Memphian. "Well, Michael Lewis [the author of the book that inspired the movie] gave us half of his share. Everybody in the family got an equal share, including Michael. It was about $14,000, each."
According to a report by the New York Post, the Tuohy family asked for $15 million to not go public with the court filing.
Their lawyer reportedly told TMZ Sports that Oher was instead the "principal offender who has repeatedly threatened to plant a negative story" about the Tuohys in the press if they didn't give him the money.
"Over the years, the Tuohys have given Mr. Oher an equal cut of every penny received from 'The Blind Side,'" attorney Marty Singer said.
"Even recently, when Mr. Oher started to threaten them about what he would do unless they paid him an eight-figure windfall, and, as part of that shakedown effort refused to cash the small profit checks from the Tuohys, they still deposited Mr. Oher's equal share into a trust account they set up for his son."
Oher was the 23rd overall pick in the 2009 draft out of the University of Mississippi. He then spent the majority of his NFL career as a Baltimore Raven and won a Super Bowl with the team back in 2013.
He played five seasons for the Ravens then another eight NFL seasons, including 2014, when he started 11 games for the Tennessee Titans.
Oher finished his career after two years with the Carolina Panthers.
