On Friday, a Tennessee judge said she will end the conservatorship agreement between former NFL offensive lineman Michael Oher and Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy.
Shelby County Probate Court Judge Kathleen Gomes said she couldn’t believe the deal was enacted in the first place and that, in her 43-year career, she had never seen a conservatorship agreement reached with someone who was not disabled.
Oher sued the Tuohy family in August, claiming that they misrepresented the legal nature of their relationship to him.
When he was 18 years old and being recruited by colleges in 2004, Oher lived with the family and believed they had legally adopted him. He allegedly did not learn the adoption was actually a conservatorship until February of this year.
The events of Oher’s early life were dramatized in the 2009 film “The Blind Side,” based on the Michael Lewis book of the same name. Sandra Bullock won the Best Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Leigh Anne Touhy and the film was nominated for Best Picture.
In the lawsuit, Oher claims that the Tuohys’ conservatorship has allowed them to profit off of his name, image, and likeness without his consent. He is demanding that the family provide a full accounting of the money they earned from his story and that he be paid what he is owed, with interest.
While Gomes is ending the conservatorship, she has not yet dismissed the case and will continue to address Oher’s other claims.
