We caught the movie again on tv a few months ago and at the time our curiosity led us down the rabbit hole of ‘where are they now’ so I knew the family was estranged as they were not at his wedding last year. But this was a surprise headline when it popped up this week, although I did see it coincides with his new book release so its perfectly designed timing in that regard. And like most (if not all) ‘based on a true story’ big blockbuster movies, the real life timeline and account of events is never as perfect as the scripted Hollywood version of events so that shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. But it is quite shocking, if it is true, that he didn’t receive royalties from the movie while the rest of the family did. Its also hard to believe though that this is all just coming to light 20yrs later (and again, ‘ironically’ the same week his 2nd book releases). He knew about the convervatorship as he wrote about it in his 2011 book, and he is married, and that marriage license required a birth certificate, so he definitely knew he wasn’t adopted. I suspect as with most stories, the truth lies somewhere in between. The Tuohy’s say they couldn’t do an adult adoption, but if TN does in fact allow it then that is shady, but the conservatorship at the time did make sense in my opinion, given his background. He was newly 18 but didn’t have a stable upbringing to model, his mother was drug addicted, and he has a lot of siblings, it would be prudent to have a checks and balance system on the decisions and finances he was facing until he became accustomed to the new life he was building. Why it would still be in place 20yrs later is a great question for the lawsuit to dive into. I’ll be interested to see just how many lawyers, financial advisors, football agents, etc there were that didn’t ask about any of this at any point in the past two decades though.
The Tuohys’ lawyer has responded, calling this an attempted shakedown that Oher has tried before. I do wonder what Oher’s true financial situation is.
Surprising that their attorney would share so much with TMZ.
But if it’s accurate, the attorney confirms that the conservatorship is still in place… so that seems to be true!!
I don’t understand the Paris Hilton reference.
Sorry, I meant Britney Spears. I’m getting those two situations mixed up.
Agree, maybe meant Brittney Spears.
I read something today that said the conservatorship was supposed to end when he was 25, which makes sense. However, no one applied for termination. It is unknown if anyone used the conservatorship since then. It’s not like the world knows about the documents so Oher may have been signing contracts, buying houses, getting married, getting passports without disclosing he was still in a conservatorship. There is no evidence (so far) that he wasn’t getting all his money from his NFL career.
The suit now is to end the conservatorship (right step) and to recover any money he thinks he was entitled to. Maybe the Touhys made a really bad deal with the book and movie rights and they didn’t get any money from it. Maybe they did make a lot of money. That should be easy to prove.
In Tennessee a guardianship – which involves persons who are under 18 years of age, as opposed to a conservatorship which is for persons 18 years and older – can be extended after the age of 18, under limited circumstances; but it cannot be enlarged past the age of 25. See Tenn. Code Ann. sec. 34-2-106.
The documents from the conservatorship court file would reveal many things, I think.
The Tuohy’s were never Oher’s legal guardians before he was 18 though. Just conservators, which began when Oher was 18.
Wouldn’t it be pretty easy to get a copy of the relevant contract (i.e. the Tuohy/Oher specifics) and payment records directly from the studio that made the movie, which would settle the payment/royalty question? I believe studios are very careful in documenting those types of things as a legal matter.
Yes; I was merely addressing the point of termination at age 25 – which only applies to guardianships of minors that are extended beyond the age of 18.
And studios are very careful to ensure that movies always make an accounting loss, so they never have to pay much if anything as a share of “net profits”, resulting in many, many lawsuits over the years. Savvy Hollywood stars instead ask for a percentage of gross revenues.
Of course the Tuohys likely didn’t care much about negotiating hard to make money from the movie - the benefits to their social standing (Oscar ceremony invites!) and restaurant business were worth much more, and they were already rich. Just like I’m sure they didn’t ask Michael Lewis for a share of the proceeds from the book - almost anyone would love to have Michael Lewis want to write their lifestory (e.g. Sam Bankman-Fried!).
I have so many questions.
One I haven’t seen posters bring up much is why Oher had different agency representation than the rest of the family. The fact he was represented by a family friend/attorney and the rest by CA (a well known agency in the entertainment industry) is worth an explanation.
I also find points made by others regarding a “typical” conservatorship in TN and wonder about the deviations. Why no GAL? In the Tuohy’s position I would have insisted on that to protect myself as much as Oher. Also, the Tuohy’s may not have pushed for book and movie royalties due to their financial position, but why didn’t someone look out for Oher and negotiate to improve his situation? There is no Blind Side without him.
The whole story is sad. It’s possible current influences in Oher’s life have convinced him he was manipulated because of his naïveté due to his young age and challenging life experience. One can be intelligent but also ignorant of sophisticated financial matters. It’s possible they are correct.
I hope the questions are answered and Oher is given peace and restitution if it’s proven he was not treated fairly.
This outfit has reported the Tuohy’s biological son claiming, “…I’ve made like $60, $70 grand over the course of the last four or five years.” This contradicts his parents’ statement that everyone made $14k.
Also in that link, the son quotes his father as saying what sounds to me like a confirmation of this statement:
“ I met my dad for lunch and he gave me a check, and I’m like, ‘We get paid off this thing?’
“He’s like, ‘Yeah, it’s made so much money now that they can’t hide it.’ “
So the Tuohy’s are free of fault if Oher received any benefits from the exploitative relationship? Where have I heard that before?
I don’t know whether there was a GAL, but if one wasn’t appointed, then you are right: purely as a CYA the Tuohy’s lawyer should have insisted on it. And with regard to any potential conflicts or issues arising out of the contracts, the appointment of a limited GAL to review/approve the contracts would make sense – also for CYA purposes, if nothing else.
I didn’t say that, but we’ll never know if he would have had the help to navigate the NCAA requirements, including the extra classes he had to take. Maybe, as his coach also followed him to Ole Miss. There is no question these were boosters and they needed to do things different to get him into college. Maybe he would have gone to one of the other schools. Maybe he would have flunked out without the additional help.
Maybe the Tuohys didn’t do anything wrong and Oher’s best interest was served. I guess the suit will tell us.
GALs aren’t used in conservatorships (at least here). My friend is conservator of her son (he’s a 30 year old with Down syndrome). There is no GAL. She files reports with the court yearly. He actually has quite a bit of money and she uses it to pay for his rent (to her), vacations, clothing. She files his taxes and of course arranges all his medical services. Here, GALs are used for kids in foster care or under a court supervision, sometimes in contested divorces (parents have to pay for the GAL) and a few other cases, but almost always for minors.
I did the interviews for a few people getting conservatorships. There were no GALs.
They were huge Ole Miss boosters. They needed to “navigate NCAA requirements” to get him into Ole Miss. They wouldn’t have needed to take legal steps to avoid NCAA scrutiny had he gone to Tennessee or any other school recruiting him, because they didn’t have a booster relationship with those other schools.
That was the part that struck me as sketchy in the book and in the film. From the high school coach bringing him into the private school to the Ole Miss boosters (as well as the high school coach) steering him to Ole Miss, the whole thing seems football/booster driven. And the fact that coach got a job at Ole Miss after Oher signed adds to the sketchiness, as does the fact that the boosters got a conservatorship to cover their tracks.
I wasn’t talking about the extra scrutiny but just the filing of the NCAA clearing house documentation. It took my daughter (and thus me) a lot of work to get it done. She went to 3 high schools and each had to send an original transcript. One used a service and we had to have it sent through that service, and since the school was closed for the summer, it took multiple calls and call backs to get it done. The final high school sent the graduation transcripts, twice, and the clearing house ‘couldn’t find it’ when I called. The women actually said to me “Do you know how much mail we get?” Yes, I do, because you require everything to be sent 3 or 7 times because you can’t find it. and really, isn’t your opening the mail what I paid $70 for you to do just that - open the mail? My daughter was in college before she was cleared to play, sometime in late September when we’d been working on this for a long time. I don’t think she could have figured it out without me helping her. and it involved calls made during the day over three time zones when she was in class.
Once he was accepted to Ole Miss, Ole Miss couldn’t pay for his transportation to school, any food or clothing or school supplies that weren’t covered by his scholarship. Would another family have helped? Probably but that’s really tough for an 18 year old to arrange.
The Tuohys did a lot more for him than other boosters did to get players into SMU or USC by giving Eric Dickerson a suitcase full of money or getting a house for a player’s mother. That was just money. He seemed okay with the arrangement through hs, college, and the NFL draft. I wonder if he went ‘home’ for holidays during college. The Tuohys went to all his Ravens games.
I agree they did a lot more to get him to Ole Miss than just give him money. For example they had him sign away his rights (allegedly under false pretenses) in order to mask their potential NCAA rules violations. I’m not sure if such extra “help” makes their actions less predatory or more predatory.