Sean Tuohy responded on Monday to the allegations he and his family are facing from Michael Oher, calling them “insulting.”
Oher, who was taken in by the Tuohy family during high school and later went on to an NFL career, sued the Tuohy family in probate court in Tennessee on Monday. Oher is seeking to end the conservatorship he has with the Tuohy family. He alleges the Tuohy family profited from him, claiming to have adopted him while in reality, tricking him into a conservatorship. He also alleges that the family made millions of dollars off the popular 2009 movie “The Blind Side,” which was based on Oher's life story, while Oher himself did not receive anything for a story that was essentially about him.
Oher is seeking compensatory and punitive damages from the Tuohy family (more details here).
Tuohy, who is the father of the family that took in Oher, spoke with the Daily Memphian’s Geoff Calkins to respond to Oher’s allegations.
Tuohy admitted to Calkins that the family did not adopt Oher, but instead signed a conservatorship with him for college football reasons. Tuohy says that in the state of Tennessee, someone over the age of 18 cannot be legally adopted. However, the Tuohys signed a conservatorship so that Oher could play college football at Ole Miss. Importantly, this means that despite Oher being an adult, the Tuohys would have the ability to sign business deals in Oher's name, and profit off of them without Oher's knowledge.
Tuohy is a former Ole Miss athlete and was regarded by the NCAA, the organization that oversees college athletics, as a “booster.” Were Oher to play at Ole Miss, the only way he could have avoided an unfair inducement/gifts violation in the eyes of the NCAA would have been to be part of the Tuohy family. Tuohy claims that Oher knew and understood that and agreed to the conservatorship. Oher ended up attending Ole Miss, playing on their football team from 2005-2008.
As for the allegation about “The Blind Side” movie, Tuohy told Calkins that the family did not make any money from the film, which grossed over $300 million at the box office. Tuohy said that Michael Lewis, the author of the book upon which the movie was based, gave the Tuohys half of the money he received from the book, but were not paid anything for the film. Tuohy said that they split the money five ways and that everybody got an equal share — about $14,000 each. The money was split between the Tuohy parents (Sean and Leigh Anne) as well as the children (Sean Jr., Collins, and Oher).
Oher's petition claims that the Tuohys and their two birth children earned $225,000 from the movie along with a percentage of the film's net proceeds. Oher further alleges that a contract exists with his signature, that he does not recall signing, that gave away the rights to his life story to 20th Century Fox for free.
Tuohy owned several fast food franchises prior to the family taking in Oher and was already very wealthy well before the movie. He sold his businesses for $213 million, according to reports. That’s why he found Oher’s allegations that they were trying to keep money from the former offensive lineman to be insulting.
“The last thing I needed was 40 grand from a movie,” Tuohy told the Daily Memphian. “I will say it’s upsetting that people would think I would want to make money off any of my children.”
The Tuohys have responded to Oher’s legal filing. Tuohy said that they will grant Oher whatever he wants, including ending the conservatorship. He claims to want whatever Oher wants.
Tuohy also noted that despite the family being close in the past, they noticed a schism growing with Oher about a year and a half ago, but said they never expected to be hit with these “insulting” allegations.
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