Former Ole Miss football star Michael Oher says Sean and Leigh Ann Tuohy hit him from the blind side as they tricked him into signing a conservatorship that gave them his contract rights instead of what he thought was an adoption. Such was no small distinction as Oher became the subject of the hit movie, The Blind Side, staring Sandra Bullock. The movie grossed over $330 million. Oher claims the Tuohys reaped the rewards of Oher's life story while Oher received nothing.
The 37 year-old Oher made the accusations in a petition to terminate the conservatorship filed today in the Probate Court of Shelby County, Tennessee. The petition also asks for an accounting of the conservatorship.
The petition tells the sad tale of Oher's beginnings. Oher grew up in the Hurt Village Housing Projects in Memphis. He was one of 12 children. DHS took custody of him when he was 11 years old in 1996 but somehow "lost" the child, leaving him to grow up on the streets.
The father of Oher's friend took him in and managed to enroll him at Briarcrest Christian School in 2002. Oher began playing sports in 2003 as a junior and immediately excelled, making the first string for the Tennessee All-State game in football and basketball. Having no permanent home, young Michael Oher stayed at the homes of various friends and Briarcrest supporters. Those supporters included Sean and Leigh Ann Tuohy. The petition charges:
Where other parents of Michael's classmates saw Michael simply as a nice kid in need, Conservators Sean Tuohy and Leigh Ann Tuohy saw something else: a gullible young man whose athletic talent could be exploited for their own benefit. The Tuohys, who took no legal action in Juvenile Court to assume legal custody of Michael, a ward of the state, began inviting him to their large, beautiful home more and more often during that summer. Mrs. Tuohy began taking Michael on shopping trips, buying him clothes.
6. In July of 2004, after Michael became an adult, but still enrolled as a student at Briarcrest and just before his senior year, the Tuohys invited Michael to come and live with them. At no time prior to this invitation during Michael's minority did the Tuohys take any legal action to assume custody of Michael from OHS through appropriate channels, nor did they seek to become Michael's guardian while he was a minor. Despite this inaction, the Tuohys did tell Michael they loved him and that they intended to legally adopt him. Michael believed them, was delighted to be part of a real and stable family, and trusted Mr. and Mrs. Tuohy completely. The Tuohys encouraged Michael to refer to them as "Mom'1 and "Dad," and Michael happily complied.
Oher claims his new parents "presented him" with legal papers to sign. Oher claims he thought the documents were for adoption. However, he claims he discovered in February 2023 he signed a petition for the appointment of conservators instead of a petition for adoption. The attorney who handled the matter in 2004 was Debra Branan, an alleged close friend of the Tuohys. The petition asked the Court to award total control over his ability to enter a contract even though he was over 18 years old.
Oher claims no one told him the Touhy's would have "ultimate control" over his contracts. He accuses the Tuohys of falsely presenting themselves as his adoptive parents. They allegedly used the lie to enrich themselves. Indeed the movie and associated websites refer to the Tuohys as his adoptive parents. The backside of the DVD case refers to him as their "son."
Oher enrolled at Ole Miss in 2005 and played football, earning Freshman All-American honors on the gridiron. Michael Lewis published a book based upon Oher's life, The Blind Side: Evolution of the Game, in September 2006.
The Tuohy's negotiated with 20th Century Fox for the movie rights. The Tuohys' contract states Branan was to be their attorney of record. They negotiated for themselves and children a price of $225,000 and 2.5% of all future defined net proceeds. However, Oher claims all such largesse was conditioned upon obtaining his signature.
There is another twist to the drama. Oher alleges fraud took place:
14. A contract also exists, entitled "Life Story Rights Agreement," purportedly signed by Michael Oher, dated April 20, 2007, in which the subject Michael Oher appears to give away to Fox, without any payment whatsoever, the perpetual, unconditional and exclusive right throughout the world to use and portray Michael Oher's name, likeness, voice, appearance, personality, personal experiences, incidents, situations and events based upon or taken from Michael Oher's life story in connection with motion pictures and otherwise from dates mentioned in The Blind Side book through the end of the 2008 NFL draft and non-exclusive rights to his life after the 2008 NFL draft. Michael Oher believes that the signature on this document is very similar to his own, and he does not know whether the signature was forged. However, Michael does know and here avers that he at no time ever willingly or knowingly signed this document and that nobody ever presented this contract to him with any explanation that he was signing such a document, or any document concerning his rights to his name, image, and life story, to Fox or anybody else.
Oher asks the Court to sanction the Tuohy's for fraud and breaching their fiduciary duty. The petition asks the Court to terminate the conservatorship since it was never closed. There is no reason for the conservatorship since Oher is 37 years old and is of sound mind.
Citing state law, Oher declares the Tuohys owe an accounting of the conservatorship to the Court. he claims no such accounting ever took place. The petition asks for damages, attorney's fees, and an injunction stopping the Tuohys from using his name or likeness.
Our old friend Donald Barrett, Esq. of Lexington represents the petitioner. His co-counsel are Anne Johnson (Memphis), J.Gerard Stranch, IV (Nashville), and Richard Barrett (Oxford).
Posted below are the petition and the 2004 order appointing conservators.
Note: Um, could Oher enter into any movie or book contracts while he was playing college football? Serious question.
Sean Touhy sold his 115 restaurants several years ago for $213 million.
53 comments:
“Don Barrett, what else do you need to know?”
This STUNK from the beginning. Not sure what is worse - what these people did, or all the Rebs defending them.
I lived next door to him in oxford for a bit in a townhouse off of Molly barr. he yelled at my 10 year old daughter for riding her bike. he's a dick anyway.
Yeah a family worth 200 million definitely needed to take advantage of a guy who ended up earning a paltry 30 million in NFL earnings.
It's about time the truth came out. It was always about rich Ole Miss boosters catching a prize recruit by any means necessary. It was easy to "love" a 300 pound All-State left tackle and "save him from the streets" You will notice the Tuohys haven't fallen in love with any other poor black boys living on the streets lately. Not likely unless he's 220 lbs stand 6-3 and runs a 4.3 40 yard dash then they can be down right love-struck.
Watch this fall apart. Much more to come
So we’re supposed to believe in 2023 he just found out that he didn’t see any money from the movie? Has this guy spent all his NFL money already?
And now that he’s irrelevant and run out of money this is an urgent matter. What did he expect from these rich ole miss folks, people knew what they were about when they scooped him up at briarcrest. Now you know why they call it “The Blindside”! 😂
Sounds like both sides deserve each other.
First he trusted the Tuoys, now he trusts Don Barrett.
His trust-meter is broke.
Betcha he signed his own nfl contracts.
This is all part of the script for Part II. Don Barrett is a scaliwag.
Yea now all of a sudden Oher's butt hurt over being taken in by a decent family to be raised better than he would have been if he'd stayed in Hurt Village (living on the streets) & he's complaining about it & wants compensated for it.
Tell us your broke without telling us you're broke.
May be the first time that I've ever hoped for Don Barret to succeed and end up with ALL the money. Neither of these two sides deserve to get the results.
If he is just now realizing that there was a movie and he didn't get anything from it - maybe it proves that those 'tests' that were administered when his eligibility was questioned based on his ability to be admitted, were faked. (Hey Don, maybe sue your university at the same time for admitting someone who had no business being in college. But, I digress.)
Clearly these fine Ole Miss flagwavers were doing nothing but trying to ensure that their flagship institution could be the beneficiary of this hulk's talents. And saw a way that they could profit off of giving up a bedroom in their minimansion. (I'm sure they found a cleaning service that disinfected the quarters after 'the help' left.)
Now, twenty years after reaching age of majority he now realizes that he didn't get any money out of their grifting? Damn - even I heard about the movie and its success.
They 'found' this monster on the streets and somehow managed to get him admitted to the "flagship" University - when he couldn't read or write?
(Hell, with that disability was he even eligible to vote in Mississippi)
love to watch this from the side - a multimillionaire on one side and one that had a chance to be a multimillionaire on the other (whether he blew it all or not we dont know). Bitching about money. And Don Barrett in the middle.
Inquiring minds want to know - will this divert Don's attention from trying to grift off the farmers that got screwed up in Greenwood by Express Grain?
What was his restaurant chain?
Conservatorship until now? How did he sign NFL contracts? MC not Ole Miss lawyers need to clarify!
Hmmm. Briarcrest, Memphis, Ole Miss...but no mention of Pastor Freeze.
Prolly just an oversight.
The Touhy family lied to everyone. It was all a lie. Two questions:
1) Ole Miss threw Ed Meek under the bus and took his name off of a building. Will they take Touhy’s name off?
2) Freeze was tight with Touhy from Briarcrest. I challenge folks to name one thing that Freeze was involved in at Ole Miss that wasn’t fraudulent/fake. Just name one.
A movie that didn’t tell the true story! Omg, what are we gonna do now! Help us king fish
Tuohy ain't worth $200 mil... and yikes, IF the suit gains any traction, damages, etc. could put a serious dent in what they do have since they sold off all their burger and chicken joints. Oxfordites always think they have the angle, until they don't.
Gold diggers - all.
Ungrateful Michael Oher! Shame on you.
7:29 "what they do have since they sold off all their burger and chicken joints."
I thought owned a bunch of Taco Bells.
Another case of a dumb football playing who couldn’t manage his money. Spending like his income will continue for ever. Now he’s turning against those who helped him
Just saw an article on the news and whoa! They really did mrs Tuohy a favor in that movie. She looks NOTHING like Sandra Bullock.
Dang! This is going to get juicy. I must say, Collins was at Ole Miss the same time as me and she was always a nice person. Kind to everyone.
unless the Tuohys took any or all of his NFL money, this is going to be thrown out.
even faster if they did indeed share earnings from the book/movie with him. knowing someone who is in “the movie industry”, one may be surprised to learn that most of the profit goes to the producers and admins. then the acting talent. then everyone else. and then very very little to the people the movie is about, if based on a “true story” the tuohys claim they gave him the fair share of that. easy to prove.
You've got to give credit where it is due. The Tuohys took a tricky recruiting mechanism and turned it into a human interest story good enough for Hollywood. That was icing on the cake and money they could not have forseen when they "rescued" the football star from the streets of Memphis. After that windfall their business instincts took over. If Oher thought they would share with him he didn't understand the nature of this business deal.
Freeze was in middle of all this. How does a minor sign away rights when he can not enter into a contract. Truth be known no one is clean in all this.
@10:53 PM - Ever heard of Google?
Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, & Long John Silver's.
Oher probably needs a conservatorship. Can he even read?
Obviously after all these years this guy finally talked to a lawyer who wasn't from Ole Miss. DUH
The timing is impeccable. New book, new controversy. Well played, sir. Well played.
The whole thing was just a recruiting effort for the University. Nothing more, nothing less. We've known they were bag people. This one just required a little extra effort.
The only reason this is considered news is because some writer saw a chance to weave a fantasy story from the normal purchase of a star football recruit. The story got the full Hollywood treatment and everybody went along for the ride, including Oher. Before NIL wealthy boosters were adopting, paying tuitions, buying houses, giving jobs, doing whatever necessary to get young studs into their football or basketball programs. Most of the players understand the deal and take their money and keep quiet. No big deal. This time things get kind of complicated because a famous false narrative was created and everybody is expected to play along forever. The Tuohys don't mind because they got everything they wanted, and more. But Oher is tired of playing along with the fantasy, especially without continuing compensation. He was made to look stupid and now he feels stupid unless he does something.....
Hope Michael Oher wins a boat load of money.
Hope Michael Tuohy name gets taken off the Ole Miss building & he loses his ass.
You know he's going to have some sleepless nights anyway.
Hope Michael Oher get an all-black jury.
Hope Hugh Freeze has a bad season.
Thanks, Kingfish. You lift the stone up and expose all the wiggly worms to sunlight.
who?
In the same week as the highly touted Rebel Rags and NCAA case settled out of court. #flagship. HYDR!
I'm having a hard time feeling sorry for Oher. They picked him up off the street, put a roof over his head, and treated him as one of their own. And, evidently, he needed lots of guidance, because as a high school student he couldn't tell if a contract was for adoption or conservatorship.
Street kids are doing drugs, getting shot, and going missing all the time.
Would he have excelled at Ole Miss, the NFL, or many other parts of life without their involvement?
This does not excuse the Tuohys from taking advantage, though.
Well...I find it hard to believe that whatever learning abilities he did or didn't have were "unknown" to those who spent time with him and who had the fiduciary duty to advise him and take his best interests into account.
I don't have a tribal interest in this tale,so from my perspective it looks like those who knew this man and could have seen to it that he was fairly compensated and able to find trustworthy representatives who would use their expertise to help him,not just themselves, failed.
Seems that a lot of commenters have the same ethics as every con man in history and entirely ignore the inconvenient second Commandment that is treated as the second most important. Neighbor doesn't mean " owns the house or property nearby", it means "those who live around you with whom you have contact...all of them!" We have neighborhoods larger than towns and villages and ancient Cairo had the population of Jackson.
I guess God expected the humans He created and to use the gifts He bestowed upon them for good, not evil or profit only unto themselves.
Lot of Moo U folks commenting here.
Moo U here. F U...!
9:49 "Without their involvement" he would be singing Rockytop. Or maybe ROLLLL-Tide!
So Moo U people have morals and ethics according to 9:58 and that makes us easier to spot in the crowd of red and blue.
Valid and fair point.
You mean Leigh Ann Tuohy is not running a shelter for wayward black teens and she's not the "Mother Teresa of Memphis"? I am so disappointed. sigh.
I must me missing something. If he wasn't an adult, whatever he signed shouldn't have any effect. If he was an adult - not in need of conservatorship, then whatever he signed was up to him. Probly should have read it first. I read EVERYTHING before I sign it. On the other hand, if he was an adult who could be "tricked" into signing "adoption" papers, he probably did need a conservatorship. And, where was the conservatorship judge in all of this? Did he not have a conversation with Mr. Oher at the time?
If they had adopted him, he would have become an heir. They knew what they were doing.
Just some observations in the Order from 2004 (19 years ago) that are stated by the Tennessee Court:
“upon the sworn testimony of…Denise Oher and Michael Jerome Wiliams, Jr. a/k/a/ Michael Jerome Oher…” (so he and his natural mother gave testimony to the Court);
“[i]t appears to the Court that the Petition is joined in by Oher, who is a 18 years old make resident in Memphis…” (so he was a party to the conservatorship proceedings and 18 at the time);
“[i]t further appears to the Court that Denise Oher joins in this Petition…” (so his natural mother was a party to the conservatorship proceeding);
“[it] further appears to the Court that it is Oher’s desire that the [Thouy’s] be recognized as his conservators by an Order of this Court.” (so he asked the Court to appoint them as his conservators).
I'll stop. There is more if anyone would just read the Order. Read the Order and the compare it to the allegations of the new action that has been filed.
14. A contract also exists, entitled "Life Story Rights Agreement," purportedly signed by Michael Oher, dated April 20, 2007, in which the subject Michael Oher appears to give away to Fox, without any payment whatsoever, the perpetual, unconditional and exclusive right throughout the world to use and portray Michael Oher's name, likeness, voice, appearance, personality, personal experiences, incidents, situations and events based upon or taken from Michael Oher's life story in connection with motion pictures and otherwise from dates mentioned in The Blind Side book through the end of the 2008 NFL draft and non-exclusive rights to his life after the 2008 NFL draft…Michael Oher believes that the signature on this document is very similar to his own…
The entertainment industry does this crap all the time. They are good at it and usually defeat any manner of legal challenge. Remember when “the artist formerly known as Prince” started using a symbol instead of his own name? There was a reason he had to do that. Naïveté, bad legal advice, below average IQ, or poor judgement won’t negate a contract. If Oher can’t prove that signature isn’t his, he’s probably SOL.
Oher was on a fast track to becoming a gravel truck driver had the Tuohys not given him comfort and opportunities during that time of his life. He lived well and had numerous opportunities that most folks never get. Sadly it appears he might be back on track for that gravel truck position... as many former NFL-ers have before him.
I gotta say this….I never saw Sandra Bullock look so hot as when she was wearing that gold dress and approached that thug sitting on the front sidewalk at the low housing unit. She had all the right curves in all the right places. I would watch it again just to see that! Wait….I digressed. Yep, Oher just might not have a leg to stand on.
No good deed goes unpunished
6:33 FOR THE WIN!!
What is the children's book " Give a Mouse a Cookie and he will want a glass of milk." Who cares? It sounds like Oher had a good life. How is he suffering now? Is anyone handing him contracts ? This family took in a child and provided him with a safe home and the ability to play ball, which he wanted to. Why is this an issue now?
Post a Comment