MEMPHIS, Tenn. — In the latest court filing in the ongoing ‘Blind Side’ saga, Michael Oher is asking the court to issue a temporary injunction against the Memphis couple to keep them from using his name and likeness.
The filing from Nov. 14 in Shelby County Probate Court says Oher is asking for the injunction against Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, to keep them “from persisting in commercially using his name, image, and likeness, often in conjunction with false claims that they adopted Mr. Oher, and are his adoptive parents.”
The filing accuses the Tuohys of “fraudulently concealing” from the court the value of Oher’s name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights as a “top-ranked football recruit in the nation.”
Oher also claims that the Tuohys were planning a book “exploiting this relationship to their great financial benefit and to Mr. Oher’s detriment by the time the conservatorship was established.”
The filing also goes into greater detail about how the conservatorship was established, claiming the Tuohys misrepresented it to Oher’s “natural mother,” and that through the conservatorship, they continued to “misuse” his NIL rights. It also claims that the Tuohys continue to call themselves his adoptive parents to promote public appearances and such.
This comes not long after another filing by the Tuohys in the case, which they said showed how much they received from ‘The Blind Side’ movie, and how much Oher was paid.
According to the documents filed Nov. 8, 2023, in Shelby County Probate Court, the agreement between the Memphis couple and Oher was to split book and movie profits five ways – between Oher, Sean, Leigh Anne, and their two children SJ and Collins Tuohy. The accounting statements in the filing show 10 payments made by the Tuohys to Oher between June 2007 and April 2023 totaling $138,311.01. Tax documents included in the filing show the Tuohys’ proceeds from ‘The Blind Side’ totaled more than $432,000 between 2007 and 2021.
In August 2023, Oher, 37, filed a petition in probate court accusing the Tuohys of lying to him about the conservatorship, saying he believed they were adopting him nearly two decades ago. 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. Their story was made into the film "The Blind Side, which earned Sandra Bullock an Oscar.
Oher said 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.
In the August 2023 filing, Oher wanted the conservatorship terminated, a full accounting of the money earned off his name and story, and to be paid what he is due, with interest.
The Tuohys called the claims they enriched themselves at his expense outlandish, hurtful and absurd and part of a “shakedown” by Oher. In an earlier court filing, the 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. 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 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.
The Tuohys said the conservatorship was the tool chosen to comply with NCAA rules which would have kept Oher from attending the University of Mississippi, where Sean Tuohy had been a standout basketball player.
In September, Shelby County Probate Court Judge Kathleen Gomes ended the conservatorship agreement but said the dispute over financial issues would continue. Gomes said at the time she was disturbed that such an agreement was ever reached and had never seen a conservatorship agreement reached with someone who was not disabled.
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.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.