Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy have filed a response to Michael Oher’s bombshell lawsuit, claiming that they “by no means supposed” to formally undertake him.
The Tuohy household argued in court docket paperwork obtained by Leisure Tonight on Thursday, September 14, that they “by no means” took “any assumed authorized custody” of Oher, now 37. Sean and Leigh Anne, each 63, additionally “vehemently deny” Oher’s claims “that they supposed to legally undertake him.”
Regardless of their denials, the Tuohys did acknowledge that they “often referred to [Michael] as a son” and “at all times felt [he] was like a son.” Sean and Leigh Anne made it clear that that they had used the phrase “son” in “the colloquial sense,” claiming that the phrase didn’t trigger “any irreparable hurt, loss, both previous current or future or damages” to Oher.
Final month, Oher alleged in a 14-page petition that the Tuohys satisfied him to signal a doc in 2004 that appointed them as his conservators. On the time, he “consented on the idea that doing so would make him a member of the Tuohy household,” however the doc “in truth offered him no familial relationship with the Tuohys.” Oher claimed that he solely discovered in February of this yr that the doc legally allowed the Tuohys to make enterprise offers in his identify.
When referencing the conservatorship of their response, Sean and Leigh Anne claimed that “the NCAA made it clear that the one manner [Oher] might attend the Ole Miss [was] if he was a part of the Tuohy household in some vogue.”
Michael Oher Roy Rochlin/Getty Photos
The couple doubled down on their claims that “there was by no means an intent to undertake him,” including that the “conservatorship was the instrument chosen to perform this purpose.”
The Tuohys additionally claimed Oher was mendacity about solely lately discovering out in regards to the conservatorship, calling his timeline “demonstratively false.” Nonetheless, Sean and Leigh Anne made it clear that they’re “prepared, keen, and in a position to terminate the conservatorship by consent at any time.”
Oher and the Tuohy household rose to fame following the discharge of the 2009 film The Blind Facet, which was impressed by their lives — and Michael Lewis’ e book of the identical identify.
Kathy Bates and Quinton Aarom in ‘Blind Facet’. Cowl Photos
In his August lawsuit, Oher alleged that he hasn’t seen any cash from the movie’s success. He’s in search of a “justifiable share of income,” together with “unspecified compensatory and punitive damages” from the Tuohys.
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The Tuohys, for his or her half, claimed that Oher “agreed” to an “association the place every celebration would get 20 % of the proceeds paid” for the movie.
When information broke of the lawsuit final month, Sean referred to as Oher’s accusations “insulting,” telling the Every day Memphian that the household was “devastated” by the whole scenario.
“It’s upsetting to assume we’d earn money off any of our kids,” he stated on the time. “However we’re going to like Michael at 37 identical to we liked him at 16.”
