‘Blind Side’ Family Accuses Michael Oher of Demanding $15M in Shakedown Prior to Lawsuit

The Tuohy family has broken their silence following the petition filed by 'The Blind Side' subject Michael Oher. The family says Oher, whom they treated like a son, attempted to shake them down for $15 million before making his "outlandish," "hurtful" and "absurd" claims about them in court on Monday, TMZ reported. Marty Singer, the family’s attorney, said it happened recently and added that it’s not the first time Oher has done this. Singer told TMZ that Oher came to the Tuohys before he filed his 14-page petition in Shelby County, Tennessee and threatened them, saying if they didn't pony up an eight-figure check, he'd "plant a negative story about them in the press." Singer also denied all of the allegations in the former NFL player’s petition. He said that Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy absolutely did not trick Oher into getting into a conservatorship when he was 18 years old, as he had claimed. The conservatorship "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," Singer said. "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." Oher's claimed that the Tuohys used the conservatorship to broker a movie deal with Fox behind his back, a deal that they earned millions from while he got nothing. "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," Singer said, adding that Oher had "received a small advance from the production company and a tiny percentage of net profits" from "The Blind Side.” He said that the Tuohys have always either shared with Oher or have tried to share with him. "Over the years, the Tuohys have given Mr. Oher an equal cut of every penny received from 'The Blind Side,'" Singer said. "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." "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."