The actual story behind the film The Blind Side will get increasingly difficult as time passes.
On Monday, Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy filed a brand new court docket declare alleging former NFL participant Michael Oher — who they took in whereas he was a young person — tried to extort US$15 million (over CAD$20.3 million) from them.
Oher, whose life served as inspiration for the e book and movie The Blind Side, filed a lawsuit in August in opposition to the Tuohy dad and mom that accused them of utilizing a conservatorship to achieve management of his funds. He claimed Sean and Leigh Anne have made “millions” profiting off his identify and story because the Oscar-winning film was launched in 2009.
Oher requested for his conservatorship to be terminated, in addition to for a full accounting of the cash earned off the usage of his identify and story. He is in search of any cash owed to him, in addition to compensatory and punitive damages decided by the court docket.
In their newest authorized submitting, the Tuohys alleged Oher, 37, threatened to smash their public picture if they didn’t ship him cash, based on CBS News, who considered the paperwork.
Sean, 64, and Leigh Anne, 63, supplied the court docket with a number of textual content messages and emails allegedly from Oher that demanded he be despatched US$10 million (about C$13.6 million). He stated if he didn’t obtain the funds, he would out the Tuohys as “thieves” to TMZ or on social media.
“If something isn’t resolved this Friday, I’m going to go ahead and tell the world, how I was robbed by my suppose to be [sic] parents,” one alleged textual content message from Oher reads. “That’s the deadline.”
In one other textual content submitted by the Tuohys, Oher modified his demand from $10 million to $15 million “after taxes.”
“Think how it will look when this comes out,” Oher wrote in one other alleged message.
Sean and Leigh Anne’s legal professionals didn’t present the court docket with any of the couple’s responses to Oher’s messages.
The couple stated Oher solely started demanding cash after his skilled soccer profession got here to an finish and he was “no longer making a significant amount of money.”
“Needless to say, the menacing demands were shocking and hurtful to the Tuohys, who had always treated Mr. Oher with kindness and love,” the court docket paperwork learn.
The Tuohys requested the court docket to disclaim Oher’s request for a brief injunction within the case. They have additionally maintained that they don’t owe Oher any cash. Oher has not but commented publicly on the Tuohys’ newest authorized submitting.
His conservatorship was terminated in September. Oher continues to be asking for the cash he believes he’s owed.
The Tuohys stated they established the authorized guardianship when Oher was 18 to assist him get hold of medical health insurance, a driver’s licence and to permit him to be admitted to school. The couple stated the conservatorship allowed Oher to skirt NCAA guidelines that will have impeded his skill to play soccer for the University of Mississippi, the place the Tuohys had been donors.
As for film royalties, the Tuohys claimed they “never negotiated any contract with 20th Century Fox or others” in regard to the film The Blind Side. They stated preparations had been made by Michael Lewis, who wrote the e book of the identical identify.
The Tuohys stated the cost from the movie was cut up between them, Oher and the couple’s two organic kids, Collins Tuohy and Sean Tuohy Jr.
They claimed everybody, together with Oher, “received a portion of the money paid to Michael Lewis which was something less than US$225,000” (about C$304,500).
Oher has known as this equal cut up unfair and prompt the Tuohy household had their logic “backwards.” He stated he ought to have been given 80 per cent of the proceeds, whereas the Tuohy household ought to have acquired 20 per cent.
As a part of his unique lawsuit, Oher additionally instructed the court docket he had by no means been formally adopted by the Tuohy household, regardless of pondering he had been. Oher stated he solely discovered concerning the conservatorship this 12 months.
In September, the Tuohys submitted court docket paperwork that claimed there was “never an intent to adopt” Oher, they usually denied ever telling him in any other case. They word that they “occasionally” known as Oher “son,” the phrase was all the time used “in the colloquial sense.” The couple stated they’ve all the time felt Oher was like a son to them, simply not legally.
Oher was the twenty third total decide within the 2009 draft out of Mississippi, and he spent his first 5 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, the place he gained a Super Bowl. He performed 110 video games over eight NFL seasons, together with 2014, when he began 11 video games for the Tennessee Titans. Oher completed his profession with two years in Carolina.
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