Michael Oher’s lawsuit, filed in August 2023 in Shelby County, Tennessee, alleges that Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy never adopted him as the film The Blind Side depicted, but instead placed him under a conservatorship shortly after he turned 18 and used that legal control to profit from his name and story for nearly two decades. A probate judge terminated the conservatorship in September 2023. Oher’s financial claims against the Tuohys, including his demand for an accounting and damages, remain pending.
What Oher Alleged
Oher filed a 14-page petition on August 14, 2023, in the Probate Court of Shelby County, Tennessee.1PBS NewsHour. Michael Oher Sues to End Conservatorship The document he had signed in 2004, shortly after his 18th birthday, was not adoption paperwork. It was a conservatorship, a Tennessee legal arrangement designed for people who cannot manage their own affairs because of a disability. Oher was a legal adult with no known disability at the time.2Fortune. Michael Oher Adoption Versus Conservatorship
In his 2011 memoir, Oher wrote that the Tuohys told him the arrangement meant “pretty much the exact same thing as ‘adoptive parents,’ but that the laws were just written in a way that took my age into account.”3ESPN. Blind Side Subject Michael Oher Alleges Adoption Was a Lie An adoption would have made him a legal family member while leaving him in control of his own contracts and finances. The conservatorship gave that control to the Tuohys.
The petition set out several specific financial allegations:
- That the Tuohys and their two biological children each received $225,000 plus 2.5 percent of the film’s defined net proceeds, while Oher received nothing. The Blind Side grossed more than $300 million at the box office.4ABC News. Michael Oher Alleges Tuohy Family Profited From Lie
- That a separate April 2007 contract granted 20th Century Fox the right to use Oher’s name, likeness, and life story “without any payment whatsoever,” and that Oher had no recollection of signing it.5NBC Bay Area. Blind Side Producers Reveal How Much Tuohys and Michael Oher Actually Made
- That the Tuohys used his name, image, and likeness to promote speaking engagements and other ventures paying them roughly $8 million over 20 years.6The New York Times / The Athletic. Michael Oher, the NFL, and the Tuohy Family
The petition also flagged a potential conflict of interest: Debra Branan, the attorney who filed the conservatorship on behalf of the Tuohys, later served as Oher’s agent on the movie contract.7ABC 7. Michael Oher Conservatorship and the Tuohy Family
Oher asked the court to end the conservatorship, bar the Tuohys from further use of his name and likeness, compel a full accounting of money earned through his identity, and award him his share of the profits along with compensatory and punitive damages.3ESPN. Blind Side Subject Michael Oher Alleges Adoption Was a Lie
How the Tuohys Responded
The Tuohys’ attorney Marty Singer called Oher’s claims “ludicrous,” “outlandish,” and “hurtful and absurd” in an August 15, 2023 statement.8FOX 5 Vegas. Tuohy Family Responds to Michael Oher Lawsuit The family characterized the case as a “$15 million shakedown,” alleging Oher had threatened negative press unless they paid him that amount.9ABC News. Michael Oher Speaks in New Interview About Lawsuit Against Tuohy Family
On the money, they said film proceeds had been split five equal ways among Sean, Leigh Anne, their two biological children, and Oher. Court documents they filed indicated Oher was paid approximately $138,000, a figure they said matched each family member’s share.10Global News. Michael Oher Blind Side Lawsuit Against Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy They said that after Oher stopped cashing his checks, they continued to deposit his share into a trust account for his son.8FOX 5 Vegas. Tuohy Family Responds to Michael Oher Lawsuit Sean Tuohy had earlier told the Daily Memphian that the family “didn’t make any money off the movie” and that each family member received only about $14,000 from author Michael Lewis’s share of book profits.11NPR. The Blind Side: Michael Oher and Tuohy Family Respond to Conservatorship Claims The gap between $14,000 and $138,000 was not fully explained in reporting.
In a September 2023 filing, the Tuohys stated they had “occasionally referred to [Oher] as a son” only “in the colloquial sense” and that there was “never an intent to adopt him.” They also asserted they “never signed any contract” on Oher’s behalf during the conservatorship and “never had control over any funds or any dealings on behalf of Mr. Oher.”7ABC 7. Michael Oher Conservatorship and the Tuohy Family Their explanation for why the conservatorship existed in the first place was NCAA eligibility: because boosters are barred from providing housing and financial support to recruits, formalizing a legal relationship allowed Oher to attend the University of Mississippi, where Sean Tuohy was an alumnus and booster.11NPR. The Blind Side: Michael Oher and Tuohy Family Respond to Conservatorship Claims
What the Film Studio and Author Said
Alcon Entertainment, which produced the film, weighed in on August 24, 2023. Co-CEOs Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove said the life rights deal was originally negotiated by 20th Century Fox in 2006 and later inherited by Alcon, and that total payments to the talent agency representing both the Tuohys and Oher came to approximately $767,000. They described the terms as “consistent with the marketplace at that time for the rights of relatively unknown individuals.”12The Hollywood Reporter. Blind Side Movie Company Defends Deal They directly called the claim that the Tuohys had been paid millions at Oher’s expense “false,” noting the money went through the agency, which “presumably, took commission before passing it through.”5NBC Bay Area. Blind Side Producers Reveal How Much Tuohys and Michael Oher Actually Made
Michael Lewis, whose book was the basis for the film, defended the Tuohys as well. He said “the money is not in the Tuohys’ pockets,” attributed the confusion to “Hollywood accounting,” and said the family had planned to share royalties equally with Oher but that Oher had at some point begun declining his checks.13Variety. The Blind Side Author Defends Tuohy Family Against Michael Oher Allegations
The Judge Ended the Conservatorship
On September 29, 2023, Shelby County Probate Court Judge Kathleen Gomes ordered the conservatorship dissolved. The Tuohys did not object. From the bench, Gomes said she had “never seen” a conservatorship used for someone who was not disabled in her 43-year career, that the arrangement “should have been dissolved a long time ago,” and, of the 2004 filing itself, “I cannot believe it got done.”14NPR. Judge Orders End of Conservatorship Between Michael Oher and the Tuohys
The judge did not dismiss the rest of the case. Oher’s claims for a financial accounting, disgorgement of profits, and damages stayed alive.15ABC News. Judge Ending Michael Oher Conservatorship With Tuohy Family
Where the Case Stands Now
The financial claims remain unresolved. By mid-2024, the Tuohys had filed for partial summary judgment, and the matter was not expected to go to trial until at least 2025.6The New York Times / The Athletic. Michael Oher, the NFL, and the Tuohy Family No settlement or verdict has been reported. Oher has said he has “faith in the court system.”16Today. Michael Oher Blindside Tuohy Lawsuit Interview
Why Oher Says He Sued
Oher has said money is not the point. “I’ve got millions of dollars. I’m fine,” he told The New York Times Magazine, describing the suit as an effort to “reclaim his story.”17People. Michael Oher Says Lawsuit Against the Tuohy Family Was Not About Money He said the film’s portrayal branded him as “dumb” and “stupid” and followed him through his NFL career, with team personnel questioning whether he could read a playbook. “Every article about me mentioned ‘The Blind Side,’ like it was part of my name,” he said.9ABC News. Michael Oher Speaks in New Interview About Lawsuit Against Tuohy Family
He released a memoir, When Your Back’s Against the Wall, in mid-August 2023, the same period he filed the petition. In it he called The Blind Side an “exaggerated trial-to-triumph story” and a source of “some of my deepest hurt and pain over the past 14 years.” He thanked several mentors from his youth; the Tuohys were not among them. The Tuohys’ attorneys accused him of timing the book to “drum up publicity.”18Vulture. Michael Oher Book and Tuohy Lawsuit