Associated Press
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – A Tennessee judge said Friday she is ending a conservatorship agreement between former NFL player Michael Oher and a Memphis couple who took him in when he was in high school.
Shelby County Probate Court Judge Kathleen Gomes said she is terminating the agreement reached in 2004 that allowed Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy
to control Oher’s finances. Oher signed the agreement when he was 18
and living with the couple as he was being recruited by colleges as a
star high school football player.
Gomes said
she was not dismissing the case. Oher has asked that the Tuohys provide a
financial accounting of money that may have come to them as part of the
agreement, claiming that they used his name, image and likeness to
enrich themselves and lied to him that the agreement meant the Tuohys
were adopting him.
In Tennessee, a conservatorship removes power from
a person to make decisions for themselves, and it is often used in the
case of a medical condition or disability.
But
Oher’s conservatorship was approved “despite the fact that he was over
18 years old and had no diagnosed physical or psychological
disabilities,” his petition said.
Gomes said she was disturbed that such an
agreement was ever reached. She said she had never seen in her 43-year
career a conservatorship agreement reached with someone who was not
disabled.
“I cannot believe it got done,” she said.
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| Offensive tackle Michael Oher poses with members of the
Tuohy family after being selected by the Baltimore Ravens during the
2009 NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall in New York on April 25, 2009. Howard Smith, USA TODAY Sports |
Oher
and Tuohys listened in by video conference call but did not speak.
Lawyers for both parties had agreed that the agreement should end, but
the case will continue to address Oher’s claims. Gomes said it should
have ended long ago.
In August, Oher, 37, filed
a petition in probate court accusing the Tuohys of lying to him by
having him sign papers making them his conservators rather than his
adoptive parents nearly two decades ago. Oher wanted the conservatorship
to be terminated, a full accounting of the money earned off his name
and story and to be paid what he is due, with interest.
He accused the couple of falsely representing
themselves as his adoptive parents, saying he discovered in February the
conservatorship agreed to in 2004 was not the arrangement he thought it
was – and that it provided him no familial relationship to them.
Oher
claims the Tuohys have kept him in the dark about financial dealings
related to his name, image and likeness during the 19-year life of the
agreement.
The Tuohys have called the claims they enriched
themselves at his expense outlandish, hurtful and absurd and part of a
“shakedown” by Oher.
In a court filing, the
affluent couple said they loved Oher like a son and provided him with
food, shelter, clothing and cars while he lived with them, but denied
saying they intended to legally adopt him.
The
Tuohys’ filing said Oher referred to them as “mom and dad,” and they
occasionally referred to Oher as a son. They acknowledged that websites
show them referring to Oher as an adopted son, but the term was only
used “in the colloquial sense and they have never intended that
reference to be viewed with legal implication.”
The
Tuohys said the conservatorship was the tool chosen to comply with NCAA
rules that would have kept Oher from attending the University of
Mississippi, where Sean Tuohy had been a standout basketball player.
“When
it became clear that the Petitioner could not consider going to the
University of Mississippi (“Ole Miss”) as a result of living with the
Respondents, the NCAA made it clear that he could attend Ole Miss if he
was part of the Tuohy family in some fashion,” the Tuohys’ Sept. 14
court filing said.
The Tuohys also said Oher lied about finding out
that he was not adopted in February. They said Oher’s 2011 book “I Beat
the Odds” indicates that he was fully aware that the Tuohys were
appointed as conservators.
Agents negotiated a
small advance for the Tuohys from the production company for “The Blind
Side,” based on a book written by Sean Tuohy’s friend, Michael Lewis,
the couple’s lawyers have said. That included “a tiny percentage of net
profits” divided equally among a group that included Oher, they said.
The
attorneys said they estimated each of the Tuohys and Oher received
$100,000 apiece, and the couple paid taxes on Oher’s portion for him.
The
Tuohys’ filing said they never signed any pro football contracts for
Oher, and he was happy with their financial arrangements from “The Blind
Side.”
Oher was the 23rd overall pick in the
2009 draft out of Mississippi, and he spent his first five seasons with
the Baltimore Ravens, where he won a Super Bowl. He played 110 games
over eight NFL seasons, including 2014 when he started 11 games for the
Tennessee Titans. Oher finished his career with the Carolina Panthers.
Full Article & Source:
Judge ends conservatorship between Michael Oher and Tuohy family in 'Blind Side' fallout
See Also:
Devastated Tuohys ready to end conservatorship for Michael Oher, lawyers say
"The Blind Side" lawsuit: Former NFL star Michael Oher sues
What is a conservatorship? The legal arrangement at the center of Michael Oher's case.
Michael Oher’s shocking conservatorship exposes court failures
Conservatorship Gone Wrong: Why Does it Seem to Happen So Often and How Can I Prevent It?
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