Michael Oher claims Tuohy family tricked him into agreeing to conservatorship

[t96]

1 hour ago, Ricky Prickles said:

This, from what I was reading the family including Oher didnt make much off it and was Hollywood that made the real money. The only decent money the family would have made would have to have to have been after the fact in any endorsements or anything they may have made when it was all released and any deals they brokered. If the movie holds true it doesnt look like the family needed much money with the number of restaurants they owned. IF of course that part was true it appears the family was doing pretty well already before they met Oher. Im sure their restaurants business/sales went through the roof after the release of the movie as well.

It's a fair point that the publicity from the movie likely did increase the value of Sean Tuohy's business, but I'm not sure what right Oher thinks he would have to any of that increase in value... Tuohy I believe sold his business a few years ago for $200M, not sure what it would've been worth before the movie but by all accounts it was very successful before they even met Oher anyways.

 

Regarding the conservatorship, it being in place is definitely weird and strange but the question is has the family used it to actually make decisions for Oher or take any of the money he has earned? From what I've read it doesn't seem like it. The family claims it was in put in place early due to some NCAA rules (not sure what those could possibly be...) and in practice hasn't been "used" at all since then. The not adopting him officially if he thought they had is certainly questionable and would cause me to lose trust in them too if I were Oher. 

[Mr. Scot]

One other thing I'd like to know would be whether or not anyone in the family had any sort of creative input to how the movie portrayed characters and events.

Pretty sure the answer to that is no because that rarely happens in Hollywood. Adrian Cronauer talked about how much the studio twisted the events of Good Morning Vietnam for dramatic effect. Similar stuff happened with Argo and other movies.

The Blind Side was no exception, especially when it came to Oher. He's always had a legitimate beef with his portrayal in the movie as an oafish clod who knew nothing about football. There's been plenty of documentation just how wrong that characterization was.

Again though, I kinda doubt the family is to blame for that.

[Ricky Prickles]

38 minutes ago, csx said:

Love the stereotype judgements

Where are they? Cite them

[ladypanther]

Fun facts:

"Fred Smith, who owns FedEx, bought the movie for his daughter [Molly Smith]," Tuberville said. " 

Molly Smith is a producer and was an executive producer for the movie.

Fox, however, never made the movie. (According to Lewis, the studio had thought Julia Roberts would be interested in the film, but she wasn’t.) Instead, Lewis said, Alcon, a small production company backed by Tuohy’s neighbor, FedEx CEO Fred Smith, stepped in. Instead of paying the actors large salaries, Lewis said, they were offered a share of the profits. Lewis said his deal provided him a share of the movie’s net profits, too. Warner Bros. distributed the movie.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/08/16/michael-lewis-blind-side-lawsuit/

 

Atlanta Falcons HC Arthur Smith is the son of Fred Smith.  His youngest brother Connor married the Tuohy daughter Collins.

Edited August 17, 2023 by ladypanther

[CamWhoaaCam]

5 hours ago, MechaZain said:

Oher was academically gifted when he met the Tuohys. The fact that they signed off on portraying their “son” as slow tells me all I need to know about them. 

This!

 

[Mr. Scot]

I should add this is one of those stories where I kind of wonder how much of the true story is ever really going to get out.

I know the world today is one where you're lucky if people read past the headlines, and headlines can be misleading. And once you get past initial opinions, people stop paying attention.

So who knows?

[Mr. Scot]

5 hours ago, MechaZain said:

Oher was academically gifted when he met the Tuohys. The fact that they signed off on portraying their “son” as slow tells me all I need to know about them. 

Do we really know that, though?

Mentioned previously that people who get featured in "based on a true story" movies rarely get any sort of creative control. There are plenty of previous examples who testify to that.

Whether or not there was any of that here is one of the big questions I have.

Edited August 17, 2023 by Mr. Scot

[ladypanther]

Also from the Washington Post article:

 

Lewis [the author of the book] said that ultimately after agent fees and taxes, he and the Tuohy family received around $350,000 each from the profits of the movie. Lewis said the Tuohys planned to share the royalties among the family members, including Oher, but Oher began declining his royalty checks, Lewis said. Lewis said he believed the Tuohy family had deposited Oher’s share in a trust fund for Oher’s son.

“Everybody should be mad at the Hollywood studio system,” Lewis said. “Michael Oher should join the writers strike. It’s outrageous how Hollywood accounting works, but the money is not in the Tuohys’ pockets.”

Additionally, Lewis said that two years ago Oher called him to ask about a speaking tour to make money discussing the book. Lewis raised the idea to his agent, but nothing came of it.

“What I feel really sad about is I watched the whole thing up close,” Lewis said. “They showered him with resources and love. That he’s suspicious of them is breathtaking. The state of mind one has to be in to do that — I feel sad for him.”

The nature of the conservatorship that Oher was placed under is not clear and somewhat unusual. Tennessee law reserves conservatorships for people with mental or physical disabilities who lack the capacity to make decisions for themselves, said Barbara Moss, an attorney in the state who is experienced in conservatorships.

“You have to have a doctor say you have a mental or physical disability in whole or in part,” Moss said. From an outside legal perspective, she said, the arrangement with Oher and the Tuohys was “bizarre.” “I’ve never seen something like that happen,” she said. “From what I know of Michael Oher … he wouldn’t have qualified.”

Lewis said he believed the Tuohy family chose a conservatorship for Oher because the process was quicker than traditional adoption. And they were concerned about the NCAA investigating Oher’s choice to attend the University of Mississippi, where the Tuohys were boosters.

In the lawsuit, Oher claims he was told the papers were “a necessary legal step in the adoption process” and that he learned only in February of this year that the papers “were not adoption papers or the equivalent of adoption papers.”

In his 2011 memoir, “I Beat The Odds,” Oher wrote the Tuohys were “named as my ‘legal conservators’ ” in the summer after he finished high school, describing a scene where he went to the courthouse with the couple to “celebrate.” He wrote that the Tuohy family “explained to me that it means pretty much the same thing as ‘adoptive parents,’ but that the laws were just written in a way that took my age into account.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/08/16/michael-lewis-blind-side-lawsuit/\

Does not sound like what they did was even legal.  Money does have its privileges.

Edited August 17, 2023 by ladypanther

[MHS831]

I am impressed with the posts.  When the Huddle seemed to provide a platform for homeless meth addicts using a stolen computer outside McDonalds for the free WiFi, there would have been some attacks and positions taken wherein everyone knew that nobody knew the actual truth.  Good job, Huddle!  You/we are maturing!! 

I would add that during the movie, I was like, "How could this NOT be an NCAA recruiting violation?"  That suggests that someone knew how to pull strings and find loop holes--like a businessman, for example.

Edited August 17, 2023 by MHS831

[Mr. Scot]

8 minutes ago, ladypanther said:

Also from the Washington Post article:

 

Lewis [the author of the book] said that ultimately after agent fees and taxes, he and the Tuohy family received around $350,000 each from the profits of the movie. Lewis said the Tuohys planned to share the royalties among the family members, including Oher, but Oher began declining his royalty checks, Lewis said. Lewis said he believed the Tuohy family had deposited Oher’s share in a trust fund for Oher’s son.

“Everybody should be mad at the Hollywood studio system,” Lewis said. “Michael Oher should join the writers strike. It’s outrageous how Hollywood accounting works, but the money is not in the Tuohys’ pockets.”

Additionally, Lewis said that two years ago Oher called him to ask about a speaking tour to make money discussing the book. Lewis raised the idea to his agent, but nothing came of it.

“What I feel really sad about is I watched the whole thing up close,” Lewis said. “They showered him with resources and love. That he’s suspicious of them is breathtaking. The state of mind one has to be in to do that — I feel sad for him.”

The nature of the conservatorship that Oher was placed under is not clear and somewhat unusual. Tennessee law reserves conservatorships for people with mental or physical disabilities who lack the capacity to make decisions for themselves, said Barbara Moss, an attorney in the state who is experienced in conservatorships.

“You have to have a doctor say you have a mental or physical disability in whole or in part,” Moss said. From an outside legal perspective, she said, the arrangement with Oher and the Tuohys was “bizarre.” “I’ve never seen something like that happen,” she said. “From what I know of Michael Oher … he wouldn’t have qualified.”

Lewis said he believed the Tuohy family chose a conservatorship for Oher because the process was quicker than traditional adoption. And they were concerned about the NCAA investigating Oher’s choice to attend the University of Mississippi, where the Tuohys were boosters.

In the lawsuit, Oher claims he was told the papers were “a necessary legal step in the adoption process” and that he learned only in February of this year that the papers “were not adoption papers or the equivalent of adoption papers.”

In his 2011 memoir, “I Beat The Odds,” Oher wrote the Tuohys were “named as my ‘legal conservators’ ” in the summer after he finished high school, describing a scene where he went to the courthouse with the couple to “celebrate.” He wrote that the Tuohy family “explained to me that it means pretty much the same thing as ‘adoptive parents,’ but that the laws were just written in a way that took my age into account.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/08/16/michael-lewis-blind-side-lawsuit/\

Does not sound like what they did was even legal.  Money does have its privileges.

Declining royalty checks?

Why?

[Mr. Scot]

4 minutes ago, MHS831 said:

I would add that during the movie, I was like, "How could this NOT be an NCAA recruiting violation?"  That suggests that someone knew how to pull strings and find loop holes--like a businessman, for example.

Sounds like that's where the conservatorship came into play, though I grant it's all strange.

Never read the book, but now I'm thinking about it. The author definitely seems to have a lot of insight (as LP quoted above).

[MHS831]

6 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Sounds like that's where the conservatorship came into play, though I grant it's all strange.

Never read the book, but now I'm thinking about it. The author definitely seems to have a lot of insight (as LP quoted above).

I am biased because I met and talked to Oher--he was not at all like the character who portrayed him--very nice guy, rather quiet.  He was good with my sons, who were all about the movie.  I told Oher, "On the way home, I will tell them that movie was a bunch of Bullshit."  He laughed.

[t96]

With Lewis' account I believe he's a close childhood friend of Sean Tuohy, worth noting regarding his defense of the Tuohy family.

[csx]

33 minutes ago, Ricky Prickles said:

Where are they? Cite them

Every post saying typical Athlete who spent all their money and that's why he's suing. Pulling it out of their asses. The one dude is only saying it because he didn't play for Auburn.