So the Tuohy's were phonies (Michael Oher)

[Orange.]

I think Oher's case is strong. I read the petition earlier (#85). It centers on the conservatorship that the Tuohys established. The conservatorship requires that the Tuohys represent Oher's interests (that's it's purpose) and also make annual accountings of what they have done. Worse, they apparently stipulated that Oher was a "mental defect" in order to get the conservatorship. They never filed an accounting and meanwhile they made all their deals enriching themselves and their children, while excluding the interest of their court-appointed "mentally defective" (by their own account) ward. I think it is a fact that the book, movie deals and multi-million dollar "non profit" businesses trade on Oher's NIL while cutting him out of all profits. But it was their legal duty and their own doing that they were responsible for protecting the interests of their ward.

Also funny that a "mental defective" made the Dean's List at Ole Miss. The conservatorship was the means by which the booster Tuohys converted all of their money, gifts, and hustling from huge recruiting violations into a "heart warming story." And then the heart warming story turned out to be yet another hustle.

The premise of the businesses is that Leigh Anne Tuohy is the emblem and champion of adoptions. But they never adopted him. Instead, she fleeced her ward after they made themselves explicitly legally responsible for protecting his interests. Btw, he was over 18 when he signed with Ole Miss. Except for the conservatorship, he could have done what he wanted. And it is not true that a person 18 years or older cannot be adopted.

 

[Orange.]

His attorney linked the petition on their website:

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/62d5bdbe1fe846653bfa4797/t/64da7351ec960632a5376bb4/1692037970555/Petition+to+Termiate+Conservertorship,+for+Accounting,+and+other+Relief+(filed+8-14-23).pdf

Thank you.

 

[jp1]

I don't think Michael got much benefit out of this situation. If what is being alleged is true, the Tuohy family was taking advantage of Michael to benefit themselves, but mainly their children. Michael was already an All-American before the Tuohy family took him in. If Michael would have been adopted, he would have had an interest in the Tuohy's estate. Further, somehow Michael who is the main character in the story gets nothing, but the children are receiving royalties. The children are receiving ill-gotten gains through the alleged situation. The children would have not received those royalties without Michael; however, Michael likely still becomes a professional athlete without the Tuohy family.

Not only did the Tuohy's take advantage of Michael, but they also harmed his NFL career by allowing him to be portrayed as unintelligent. The perception that Michael was unintelligent likely shortened Michael's career and caused him to be underpaid.

I'm not really seeing the part of this shortening his NFL career. The timing of this is extremely weird for me.

 

[05_never_again]

I'm not really seeing the part of this shortening his NFL career. The timing of this is extremely weird for me.

The timing is interesting, but he also claims that he didn't know that he was actually adopted by them until February of this year.

I think neither party comes out of this looking good, especially the Tuohys.

 

[1 in 102 455]

I’m interested in any third parties will bring claims against the Tuohys for business/charitable transactions based upon misrepresentation that Michael was adopted. That’s a big part of their story and could be argued as material to why people/companies chose to deal with them.

 

[wmcovol]

the most damaging evidence against the Tuohys is 1) they clearly split the proceeds from the movie 4 ways instead of 5 and 2) even the movie portrayed how they managed his recruitment to their alma mater, not the school of his choice.

 

[Firebirdparts]

I took a couple minutes to look at what he made in the NFL and it looks like about 40 million. Maybe the titans didn't pay the full amount, I don't know. He got released there. I sure hope he is still rich. It would be kind of a shame if this was all about him becoming in need.

Like I said earlier, I don't care about any of this. I don't ever get mad at rich people for being rich. It was a good movie. He's had a great life and they have too.

I'll just add here I have no doubt that a lot of people, including the Tuohy's, did an awful lot of good for him because they just felt like he needed help.

 

[RDU VOL#14]

Honestly, Oher’s reaction to the film always made me suspicious. I mean I knew the true story was probably not the wholesome savior family the movie went for, but his extreme dislike for the film made me question if there was even more that we didn’t know.

Finding out that he was probably taken advantage of by a family looking to enrich themselves even further just answers a lot of questions I was asking.

Why did the Tuohy’s need to enrich themselves? They were already loaded.

 

[Orange.]

the most damaging evidence against the Tuohys is 1) they clearly split the proceeds from the movie 4 ways instead of 5 and 2) even the movie portrayed how they managed his recruitment to their alma mater, not the school of his choice.

Not only the movie, but the book (which was written by a Tuohy family friend), and their businesses set up to leverage the moneymaking potential of the untrue story they told about adoption, while concealing that they were grossly abusing their legal position as "conservators" of Oher's interests.

 

[Vols All Day]

Another problem I see with the Tuohy's claims is if the Tuohy family got the conservatorship for Michael to go to Ole Miss, why not end the conservatorship after he left Ole Miss.

 

[Nerwen Aldarion]

Why did the Tuohy’s need to enrich themselves? They were already loaded.

So you are saying someone who is wealthy can’t be greedy for more?

Not to mention it’s not just money they received but fame

 

[RDU VOL#14]

So you are saying someone who is wealthy can’t be greedy for more?

Not to mention it’s not just money they received but fame

I wasn’t insinuating anything. I was just asking a question . At the time they didn’t know they would be famous or if he would be an amazing football player. They may have known he would be good and that they might be able to steer him towards Ole Miss, but there’s never a guarantee he would go pro or that they could profit from him. Maybe they could gain a kick back from Coach O and the Ole Miss Athletic Dept, but that’s it. Its incredibly hard to go pro and make a lot of $ .

 

[butchna]

I'm not really seeing the part of this shortening his NFL career. The timing of this is extremely weird for me.

Reality is a bear. He got built up as a HOF talent and was short of that. Doesn’t matter if a coaching staff read or watched a movie implying you weren’t intelligent. If you dominate on the field, you got a job.

 

[jp1]

Reality is a bear. He got built up as a HOF talent and was short of that. Doesn’t matter if a coaching staff read or watched a movie implying you weren’t intelligent. If you dominate on the field, you got a job.

Exactly, plus you would think a coach that had you for 4 years would be able to discern rather quickly if you are intelligent or not. To say it ended your career, or shortened it, is a big stretch for me.

 

[Orange.]

Reality is a bear. He got built up as a HOF talent and was short of that. Doesn’t matter if a coaching staff read or watched a movie implying you weren’t intelligent. If you dominate on the field, you got a job.

I don't recall that that claim of Oher's is in the petition.

I do see that he is telling that as part of his effort to publicize his counter-story of events and his personal experience. Which he claims his conservators misrepresented.

I never watched the movie, but from what I hear it makes the Tuohys and especially Leigh Ann out to be huge heroes and role models (which she used it to make millions through non-profits or tax shelters and to attain extremely marketable celebrity status). While Oher, so I hear, was depicted as sort of a beneficiary of dumb luck and others' good graces. I saw for myself the short clip here yesterday where the actress wiggles all around and on and off the field because she is needed to teach Oher, as if he were 5, to understand football at the most basic level and even to have any motivation at all to exert himself. It was pretty gross. I also saw yesterday on VN the Peyton Manning parody, which look very prescient.

I also noticed that the movie star's departing snark in that one scene I did see about "men" who disappear when you need them (or whatever exactly it was) seems to apply to Leigh Anne in her role as legal conservator of Oher's interests.

 

[Delmar]

Why did the Tuohy’s need to enrich themselves? They were already loaded.

It’s been my experience that people with lots of money always want to make more. Rarely do they say that they have enough. The money trail is going to tell the tale and it shouldn’t be that hard to figure out who got what and when. Should be interesting to watch. Somebody for sure is lying.

 

[woodpusher]

Another problem I see with the Tuohy's claims is if the Tuohy family got the conservatorship for Michael to go to Ole Miss, why not end the conservatorship after he left Ole Miss.

I assume the conservatorship did not give the Tuohy's control over his NFL earnings.
Did the Tuohy's, as conservators, agree to the book and movie deals on Oher's behalf, or did the deals just skip over him entirely?'
EDIT: The movie was released November 2009, after Oher was drafted by the NFL.
The book came out in 2006, during Oher's time at Ole Miss.

 

[Orange.]

I assume the conservatorship did not give the Tuohy's control over his NFL earnings.
Did the Tuohy's, as conservators, agree to the book and movie deals on Oher's behalf, or did the deals just skip over him entirely?

Paragraph 12 in the petition. That section continues through 17.

As to the movie deal, see especially paragraph 15: "...even if they simply knew about it and allowed this miscarriage of justice to occur, whereby the Co-Conservators and their children would reap millions of dollars while Co-Conservators' ward would receive nothing, they would have committed a breach of their fiduciary duty so gross and appalling that they should be sanctioned by this court by disgorgement of all sums of money received from the motion picture, plus interest from the date of receipt of any payment, and also required to pay appropriate punitive damages to their ward, Michael Oher, as determined by this court." [my italics]

Their explicit legal fiduciary duty was to act in Oher's interest and provide accounting for their dealings.

As to how the Tuohys appear to have abused their non-profit status, see paragraph 17. An agreement that was never disclosed to Oher provided that the successor to Fox would make a "donation" of $200,000 dollars (an amount equal to the base pay previously negotiated for the family, i.e, the couple and their children. (This did not include the family's portion of the movie profits, which was in addition). Oher was excluded from the family, despite the Tuohys' having publicly represented themselves as having adopting Oher. The petition claims that he was never informed of this agreement.

The studio gave the money in the name of Sean Tuohy to one of Leigh Anne Tuohy's non-profits named the Making It Happen Foundation. She was making it happen, alright. If this were a donation, why would Alcon Entertainment make it in someone else's name? The Tuohys appear to have contrived a way to take their base pay as a non-profit donation. Thus it would seem that it was not reported as income on the Tuohy's taxes. Or was this contract yet an additional payment that was taken in this peculiar manner in exploitation of their ward?

One of Leigh Anne's "non-profits" is devoted to adoption and predicated on her false claim to her experience and falsely secured status as a celebrity champion of adoption. But she never adopted.

 

[n_huffhines]

I think Oher's case is strong. I read the petition earlier (#85). It centers on the conservatorship that the Tuohys established. The conservatorship requires that the Tuohys represent Oher's interests (that's it's purpose) and also make annual accountings of what they have done. Worse, they apparently stipulated that Oher was a "mental defect" in order to get the conservatorship. They never filed an accounting and meanwhile they made all their deals enriching themselves and their children, while excluding the interest of their court-appointed "mentally defective" (by their own account) ward. I think it is a fact that the book, movie deals and multi-million dollar "non profit" businesses trade on Oher's NIL while cutting him out of all profits. But it was their legal duty and their own doing that they were responsible for protecting the interests of their ward.

Also funny that a "mental defective" made the Dean's List at Ole Miss. The conservatorship was the means by which the booster Tuohys converted all of their money, gifts, and hustling from huge recruiting violations into a "heart warming story." And then the heart warming story turned out to be yet another hustle.

The premise of the businesses is that Leigh Anne Tuohy is the emblem and champion of adoptions. But they never adopted him. Instead, she fleeced her ward after they made themselves explicitly legally responsible for protecting his interests. Btw, he was over 18 when he signed with Ole Miss. Except for the conservatorship, he could have done what he wanted. And it is not true that a person 18 years or older cannot be adopted.

Could this end up being criminal?

 

[BowlBrother85]

Why did the Tuohy’s need to enrich themselves? They were already loaded.

Why did Martha Stewart trade on inside information in 2001, which only netted her about $230,000? She was a billionaire at the time. Greed.

 

[05_never_again]

Why did the Tuohy’s need to enrich themselves? They were already loaded.

As much as I'd like to agree, the world is full of wealthy people who are trying to get more money. Although in the Tuohys' case, recognition and fame might have been more what they were after; the money is a by-product of that.

 

[Volunteer_Kirby]

I'm holding a wait and see approach on this. Why now?

He's been retired from the NFL for nearly a decade now.

I wonder if he's currently got the wrong people in his ear and he/they have already blown through his NFL bank account and is needing money.

Maybe the writers strike got him curious about royalties. Regardless, it doesn't matter why. The Tuohys were already wealthy before and they knowingly exploited Oher for their own financial gain. It's vile. I hope he can find grounds for a civil suit.

Shame on the kids for accepting hundreds of thousands in royalties while Michael received nothing. They had to have known. The parentarcan rot in hell.

 

[Orange.]

I see a ESPN story today repeating in its headline a fresh allegation of the Tuohy's that Oher demanded "hush money." But I have noticed that in all other cases of sports figures involved in legal situations involving torts that I recall (and there have been so many over the years), ESPN spoke instead of "out of court settlements." It is strange to me that the article itself never clarified this point. Of course, "Tuohys turned down out of court settlement offer" is less sensational.

Is ESPN turning over a new leaf and determined henceforth to refer to all payments associated with terminating lawsuits, for example, say, at Georgia, as "hush money"?

 

[RDU VOL#14]

As much as I'd like to agree, the world is full of wealthy people who are trying to get more money. Although in the Tuohys' case, recognition and fame might have been more what they were after; the money is a by-product of that.

Why did Martha Stewart trade on inside information in 2001, which only netted her about $230,000? She was a billionaire at the time. Greed.

@Delmar also
I guess my question is about the timing of all of this. How did they know he would become an NFL player? How did they know they would be able to sell this story to a publisher? I don’t think there’s anything wrong w/ asking a few questions about how this came about before we all decide that Oher was the one completely wronged here.

 

[butchna]

Another problem I see with the Tuohy's claims is if the Tuohy family got the conservatorship for Michael to go to Ole Miss, why not end the conservatorship after he left Ole Miss.

That is very odd. Wondering how many DEALS they actually negotiated on his behalf. Doesn’t sound like they touched any of his NFL money and aside from pushing for Jimmy Sexton as his agent weren’t front and center in his pro career.