The Tuohy family is firing back at former NFL offensive lineman Michael Oher who filed a lawsuit against his adoptive family. Marty Singer, the Tuohy family attorney, told TMZ Sports that Oher, whose story inspired the 2009 football film The Blind Side, allegedly tried to shake them down $15 million. Singer also says that Oher was the principal offender who repeatedly threatened to “plant a negative story” about the Tuohys 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,” 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.” Singer went on to say that Oher has been dropped by other lawyers but “has finally found a willing enabler and filed this ludicrous lawsuit as a cynical attempt to drum up attention in the middle of his latest book tour.”
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Oher filed the lawsuit in Shelby County, Tennessee probate court on Monday, alleging his adoptive parents never legally adopted him. Instead, Oher was tricked into signing into a conservatorship which allowed them to retain legal power over him. Oher, who won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens, claims that the Tuohys made millions of dollars through the conservatorship, thanks in large part to The Blind Side which earned over $300 million at the box office worldwide. Oher says he didn’t earn any money from the movie.
Sean Tuohy spoke to The Daily Memphian and admitted that he and his wife, Leigh Anne Tuohy, are Oher’s conservators. “Michael was obviously living with us for a long time, and the NCAA didn’t like that,” Tuohy said. “They said the only way Michael could go to Ole Miss was if he was actually part of the family. I sat Michael down and told him, ‘If you’re planning to go to Ole Miss—or even considering Ole Miss—we think you have to be part of the family. This would do that, legally.’ We contacted lawyers who had told us that we couldn’t adopt over the age of 18. The only thing we could do was to have a conservatorship.”
Oher, 37, played in the NFL from 2009-2016. Along with winning a Super Bowl with the Ravens, Oher was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team in 2009. He played college football at Ole Miss and was a two-time First Team All-SEC selection and was named a unanimous All-American in 2008.
