Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy reportedly won’t fight to keep Michael Oher under conservatorship.
As AfroTech previously told you, the former NFL player filed a 14-page lawsuit against the wealthy couple. According to him, he was “falsely advised” and signed conservatorship paperwork that he believed meant he was being legally adopted, The Associated Press reports. The conservatorship would grant Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy permission to have control over his financial dealings or personal matters.
Oher had been accepted into their home when he was in high school and would go on to play football in college and professionally. The Tuohy family have responded that the conservatorship was to ensure Oher — who had an unstable childhood — could attend their alma matter, Ole Miss, the University of Mississippi.
According to USA Today, the conservatorship paperwork was signed in August 2004. Oher was already 18.
A portrayal of his story made it to the big screen, inspired by a book written by Sean Tuohy’s friend Michael Lewis. The Associated Press reports a small advance was negotiated with the Tuohy couple from the production company behind “The Blind Side.”
The film earned over $300 million, according to ABC7 New York.
“The lie of Michael’s adoption is one upon which Co-Conservators Leigh Anne Tuohy and Sean Tuohy have enriched themselves at the expense of their Ward, the undersigned Michael Oher,” the legal filing said, according to ESPN. “Michael Oher discovered this lie to his chagrin and embarrassment in February of 2023, when he learned that the Conservatorship to which he consented on the basis that doing so would make him a member of the Tuohy family, in fact provided him no familial relationship with the Tuohys.”
Lawyers representing the couple are refuting his claims, stating the Tuohys and Oher earned revenues totaling $100,000 each, and the couple paid the taxes on Oher’s share, per The Associated Press.
“Michael got every dime, every dime he had coming,” the couple’s lawyer Randall Fishman said, according to the outlet.
“They don’t need his money,” lawyer Steve Farese explained to USA Today. “They’ve never needed his money. Mr. Tuohy sold his company for $220 million.”
Despite the differences of both parties on compensation, what seems to be agreed upon is terminating the conservatorship.