‘The Blind Side’ Family Attorney Marty Singer Says Michael Oher Attempted “Shakedown” Before Going To Court, Calls Claims “Offensive”

A day after Michael Oher, the former NFL player and subject of the 2009 movie The Blind Side, alleged in a court filing that the family who took him in as a young player had deceived him about being adopted and deprived him of earnings from the Oscar-nominated film, the family has hit back.

A long rebuttal by Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy’s high-powered entertainment attorney Marty Singer made public Tuesday said Oher’s claims “that the Tuohys have ever sought to profit off Mr. Oher is not only offensive, it is transparently ridiculous.”

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Singer also said Oher recently “started to threaten [the family] about what he would do unless they paid him an eight-figure windfall, and, as part of that shakedown effort refused to cash the small profit checks from the Tuohys, they still deposited Mr. Oher’s equal share into a trust account they set up for his son.”

“Unbeknownst to the public, Mr. Oher has actually attempted to run this play several times before – but it seems that numerous other lawyers stopped representing him once they saw the evidence and learned the truth,” Singer wrote. “Sadly, Mr. Oher has finally found a willing enabler and filed this ludicrous lawsuit as a cynical attempt to drum up attention in the middle of his latest book tour.” (Oher’s latest book, When Your Back’s Against the Wall, written by Oher and Don Yeager, was published last week by Penguin Random House and mentioned his complicated relationship with Blind Side.)

Oher, an offensive lineman who played eight NFL seasons after being a first-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens, joined the Tuohy family when he was 18 after growing up one of 12 children in bad circumstances. Oher said in his court filing Monday that he was always told he signed papers to be adopted, but that he recently learned the paperwork instead created a conservatorship.

As a result, he and his lawyers say, the conservatorship meant the family was able to make deals in his name. The filing, in Shelby County, TN probate court, says the Tuoys used it to enrich their own family, leaving Oher out of the profits from Michael Lewis’ book about their story and the subsequent 2009 movie that came from it, which grossed more than $300 million at the global box office and won Sandra Bullock the Best Actress Oscar.

“When Michael Lewis, a friend of Sean’s since childhood, was approached about turning his book on Mr. Oher and the Tuohys into a movie about their family, his agents negotiated a deal where they received a small advance from the production company and a tiny percentage of net profits,” Singer said. “They insisted that any money received be divided equally. And they have made good on that pledge.

“The evidence – documented in profit participation checks and studio accounting statements – is clear: over the years, the Tuohys have given Mr. Oher an equal cut of every penny received from The Blind Side.

Singer also said in the statement, first reported by TMZ, that ‘the Tuohys have always been upfront about how a conservatorship (from which not one penny was received) was established to assist with Mr. Oher’s needs, ranging from getting him health insurance and obtaining a driver’s license to helping with college admissions. Should Mr. Oher wish to terminate the conservatorship, either now or at anytime in the future, the Tuohys will never oppose it in any way.”

Here’s Singer’s full statement:

“Anyone with a modicum of common sense can see that the outlandish claims made by Michael Oher about the Tuohy family are hurtful and absurd. The idea that the Tuohys have ever sought to profit off Mr. Oher is not only offensive, it is transparently ridiculous. Through hard work and good fortune, Sean and Leigh Anne have made an extraordinary amount of money in the restaurant business. The notion that a couple worth hundreds of millions of dollars would connive to withhold a few thousand dollars in profit participation payments from anyone – let alone from someone they loved as a son – defies belief.

In reality, the Tuohys opened their home to Mr. Oher, offered him structure, support and, most of all, unconditional love. They have consistently treated him like a son and one of their three children. His response was to threaten them, including saying that he would plant a negative story about them in the press unless they paid him $15 million.

When Michael Lewis, a friend of Sean’s since childhood, was approached about turning his book on Mr. Oher and the Tuohys into a movie about their family, his agents negotiated a deal where they received a small advance from the production company and a tiny percentage of net profits. They insisted that any money received be divided equally. And they have made good on that pledge.

The evidence – documented in profit participation checks and studio accounting statements – is clear: over the years, the Tuohys have given Mr. Oher an equal cut of every penny received from The Blind Side. Even recently, when Mr. Oher started to threaten them about what he would do unless they paid him an eight-figure windfall, and, as part of that shakedown effort refused to cash the small profit checks from the Tuohys, they still deposited Mr. Oher’s equal share into a trust account they set up for his son.

Additionally, in spite of the false allegation in the lawsuit, the Tuohys have always been upfront about how a conservatorship (from which not one penny was received) was established to assist with Mr. Oher’s needs, ranging from getting him health insurance and obtaining a driver’s license to helping with college admissions. Should Mr. Oher wish to terminate the conservatorship, either now or at anytime in the future, the Tuohys will never oppose it in any way.

Unbeknownst to the public, Mr. Oher has actually attempted to run this play several times before – but it seems that numerous other lawyers stopped representing him once they saw the evidence and learned the truth. Sadly, Mr. Oher has finally found a willing enabler and filed this ludicrous lawsuit as a cynical attempt to drum up attention in the middle of his latest book tour.

The Tuohys will always care deeply for Mr. Oher. They are heartbroken over these events. They desperately hope that he comes to regret his recent decisions, makes different choices in the future and that they someday can be reconciled with him. In the meantime, however, they will not hesitate to defend their good names, stand up to this shakedown and defeat this offensive lawsuit.”

~ Martin Singer, attorney for Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy

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