A Tennessee judge ended a conservatorship agreement between former NFL lineman Michael Oher and Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, Friday. But expect the legal wrangling over finances involving The Blind Side to continue.
The Associated Press reported that Shelby County Probate Court Judge Kathleen Gomes terminated the agreement. Oher is a former star for Ole Miss and was a first-round draft pick of the Baltimore Ravens. The Tuohys took Oher into their home when he was in high school. And his time with the Tuohys became a best-selling book. And then it evolved into the blockbuster movie, The Blind Side. Sandra Bullock, who portrayed Leigh Anne, won an Academy Award for her work in the movie.
The Tuohys and Oher reached a conservatorship agreement after Oher turned 18 nearly two decades ago. At the time, he also was going through the college football recruiting process. In Tennessee, these sorts of agreements are granted if a person is disabled. Or, the person may have a medical condition. The conservatorship then is needed if that person can’t make decisions for themselves. According to the AP, the judge said she was bothered that anyone allowed the agreement in the first place.
Gomes said that in her four decades on the job, she’d never seen a conservatorship granted for a person who wasn’t disabled.
“I cannot believe it got done,” she told the court.
Oher claimed Tuohys, not him, benefitted from ‘The Blind Side’
This all started in August, when Oher filed a petition in probate court. He accused the Tuohys of lying to him. He said they told him the paperwork was to adopt him. Oher asked the court to end the conservatorship. He also wants an accounting of the money earned off his name and story that inspired The Blind Side. And he wants the Tuohys to repay him.
Meanwhile, the Tuohys said that Oher is trying to shake them down for money. The Blind Side portrayed them as a close family. However, the Tuohy lawyers say Leigh Anne and Sean have been estranged from Oher for at least a decade. The Tuohys released a statement saying that Oher asked them for $15 million or else he’d go to the media with negative information.
The Tuohys and Oher attended the hearing via video conference. But none of them spoke.
Oher played for the Ravens, Titans and Panthers. His last year in the NFL was 2016.
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