Dude, that's just ridiculous. Plenty of pro athletes aren't the "most sophisticated" people. That doesn't make a conservatorship appropriate. I read the ESPN story. One of the interesting aspects is at the end, the family basically admits that the conservator part of his allegations is true: Tuohys dispute Oher's claims, allege 'shakedown' In his court petition, Oher asks for a judge to terminate the conservatorship granted to the Tuohys in August 2004 and also a full accounting of the money the Tuohys earned using Oher's name, and to have the couple pay him his fair share of profits, as well as unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. Singer said the family will not oppose the termination of their guardianship but "will not hesitate to defend their good names, stand up to this shakedown and defeat this offensive lawsuit." ---------------------------------------------------------------- Does this mean all his claims are true? No. But it does make me wonder why they were his conservators.
I also feel the need to point out that this is a lie: Sean Tuohy reacts to Michael Oher’s ‘Blind Side’ allegations, says family never made money off film Sean Tuohy told the Daily Memphian the conservatorship had nothing to do with the movie, and was a route to helping secure Oher's eligibility to play college football. "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," he said. "We were so concerned it was on the up-and-up that we made sure the biological mother came to court." Tennessee law does allow for adoption for those above the age of 18, though Tuohy said he was advised it was not permitted in the state, The Daily Memphian reported. --------------------------------------------------------------------- These people are wealthy. Yet, they couldn't find an attorney competent enough to do a quick search to confirm that they could adopt him when dealing with this important matter of family law? C'mon.
First when I said not sophisticated I was being delicate. The narrative has been advanced that he is lower IQ and maybe mentally mildly disabled. That may or may not be true. But of everything I am hearing in the whole affair it all points to it being true. Apparently Oher asked for an 8 figure payout. That is just ridiculous. It is simple math, based upon the facts given in several reports. The royalties of the movie to the family were pretty small, likely low 7 figures or maybe even lower. 1/5 of that would be 6 or even 5 figures. Oher had a net worth in the ball park of $20 million. Looking at his NFL contracts it appears he has saved a decent amount. Presumably the family and the conservatorship had a lot to do with it. I suspect somebody has planted in Ohers head that he is owed something. Maybe lawyers, or some agent, or his new wife. Who knows. The fact that he can be so easily manipulated in my mind shows that the conservatorship has been in his best interests, at least until now. My bet is it will be dissolved and Oher will run through his money in 5-10 years as other predators suck him dry - which could include an eventual divorce and substantial settlement. It sounds like the main motivation of the conservatorship was a way to allow Oher to go to Ole Miss and stay within NCAA rules since he was living with and being supported by the family. There’a obviously a sordid history of abuse around conservatorships, and taking always peoples rights and freedom es should not happen Willy Nilly. By the same token anti guardianship advocates have made it difficult to get them in some cases where they are probably needed. Our ASD adult son clearly can’t take care of himself, but 2 different attorneys have told us that our county is “hostile” to guardianships, so for now we have put it on the back burner. I suspect Oher has greatly benefited from the protection of his resources by the conservatorship, but he isn’t smart enough to realize it (and I don’t intend that in a derogatory way) and he is likely being manipulated into his current actions.
Oher graduated from Ole Miss and even made the Honor Roll while there, so I highly doubt he's mentally disabled. As for any payout, assuming that's true, none of us know the basis for his calculations because none of us know what the financials involved here are, including movie royalties. It is only "simple math" if you have the facts, and you don't. Or they didn't. You assume this because you assume Oher is dumb. Or both parties were responsible for it. You continue to assume the best of the family and the worst of Oher. Or the family indeed stole from him. As for him being "easily manipulated," there are plenty of folks who have been "manipulated" by loved ones they trusted. Hell, plenty of rich folks got duped by Bernie Madoff, who wasn't even family. You are rushing awfully hard to accept the family's side in all of this. This claim doesn't remotely add up. The family could have adopted him. It didn't need a conservatorship to allow him to play at Ole Miss. It sounds like you're projecting your issues on to this situation that isn't remotely comparable. There's nothing to suggest Oher is disabled or even stupid. Indeed, based on Michael Lewis's claims (author of the book), Oher's IQ is average to slightly above average (Lewis claimed that Oher's original IQ test before he attended the Memphis private high school was an 80 and that it increased by 20-30 points when they retested him while in college at Ole Miss, meaning a 100-110 IQ). The odd thing is that your county is likely hostile to guardianships because of abuse of the system. Basically, if the allegations are true, people like the Tuohys are why it's hard for you to become a guardian.
Ultimately we are projecting our own biases onto the situation. It will likely become apparent eventually with way. I’m pretty sure I’m right, based upon what has been presented but we will find out.
I tend to agree. He says they screwed him over and misused his trust. They say he is effectively extorting them. No one here knows which, if either are, is true. The only lesson anyone can take from this at this point is don’t go to Ole Miss.
I have no idea who is right, but the fact is that the Tuohys admit there is a conservatorship, they don't claim they did it because Michael is unable to care for himself, and the reason they claim they did it (because a lawyer told them it was necessary for his football eligibility and that they couldn't adopt him) is not particularly believable. Why? Because Tennessee law allowed them to adopt, and that would have been the simpler way of his preserving his eligibility. So for them to be telling the truth, their lawyer had to be so lazy and incompetent that they committed obvious malpractice.
I don’t know about TN adoption laws for adults, but I suspect the NCAA would look closely at adopting a prize adult recruit and showering him with financial support. If a need for a conservatorship is demonstrated that’s arguably different. you act like a conservatorship is a secret. It’s publicly available information. It just strikes me as ludicrous that a family that has over $100 million - from a sale of over 100 restraurant franchises, bothers to do all this to make some pretty modest sums on movie rights.
At this point I have little doubt the Oher's allegations regarding their failure to adopt him and the creation of the conservatorship are accurate. At this point the real question to be resolved is whether the Tuohys used it as a vehicle to unjustly enrich themselves at Oher's expense. My guess is that their narrative is probably more accurate regarding the dollar value of the movie rights is probably more accurate than his although we shall see. I also think that he may have a valid complaint regarding the way that he was portrayed in the movie although the fault may lie more so with the screenwriters and director than the Tuohys.
Its not just the movie, they've spun off the story into a motivational speaking business, so clearly they are capitalizing beyond whatever the film itself got them.
The Tuohy Family Has Not Received Millions from 'The Blind Side': Source (Exclusive) A source close to the film tells PEOPLE the Tuohys have received approximately $700,000 total in rights, payments and profits, which was intended to be divided between the family members — Sean, Leigh Anne, their two biological children and Oher. "The Tuohys have not received millions of dollars from the movie,” says the source. "They have not even received $1 million from the movie.” If this is true it is consistent with what is reported elsewhere and what I’ve been saying all along. We would be talking about $140k as Ohers share. Marty Singer, an attorney who is representing the Tuohy family, flatly rejected Oher’s claims. “When Michael Lewis, a friend of Sean’s since childhood, was approached about turning his book on Mr. Oher and the Tuohys into a movie about their family, his agents negotiated a deal where they received a small advance from the production company and a tiny percentage of net profits. They insisted that any money received be divided equally. And they have made good on that pledge,” said Singer in a statement shared with PEOPLE. Singer's statement continued: “The evidence – documented in profit participation checks and studio accounting statements – is clear: over the years, the Tuohys have given Mr. Oher an equal cut of every penny received from The Blind Side.” At a Wednesday news conference in Memphis, ESPN reports two lawyers for the Tuohy family said that, overall, each member of the family and Oher made about $100,000 from the movie. "Imagine a pie, divided by five," Steve Farese said, according to the outlet. "We estimate each person received $100,000."
