The conservatorship former NFL player and The Blind Side subject Michael Oher was entered into nearly 20 years ago by Leigh Anne Tuohy and Sean Tuohy has been terminated by a Memphis judge, the New York Times reported.
In August, the 37-year-old filed a petition seeking to end the conservatorship. In it, he claimed that he learned only in Feb. 2023 that the Tuohy family were never his actual parents, only his conservators with legal authority over his business deals. The conservatorship began in 2005, four months after he turned 18.
“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,” the document read.
“Since at least August of 2004, Conservators have allowed Michael, specifically, and the public, generally, to believe that Conservators adopted Michael and have used that untruth to gain financial advantages for themselves and the foundations which they own or which they exercise control,” the petition stated.
The Tuohys, who dismissed Oher’s claims as insulting, said they would “never oppose” his request to bring the conservatorship to an end and have denied any wrongdoing.
Beyond the termination of the conservatorship, Oher is seeking a full accounting of their earnings, retroactive share of profits, and compensatory and punitive damages in an unspecified amount.
Based on Michael Lewis’ 2006 book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, The Blind Side film grossed more than $300 million at the box office and has continued to bring in earnings in home video sales. The deal the Tuohys signed, according to the petition, earned Sean and Leigh-Anne as well as their two birth children $225,000 each. Additionally, they earned 2.5 percent of the film’s “defined net proceeds.”
The judge has not dismissed this case, but according to the deputy clerk of the court, no date has been scheduled for another hearing.