World
Agreement central to a public dispute between Michael Oher and the Tuohys is being questioned
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — In 2004, when Michael Oher was a coveted college football recruit, the 18-year-old high schooler agreed in court to allow the Memphis couple he lived with to make decisions for him about signing contracts and any medical issues.
Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy had taken in Oher, who had been in the Tennessee foster care system and at one point lived on the streets. The judge-approved agreement, called a conservatorship, was made with the permission of Oher’s biological mother and inked about two months before Oher signed to play offensive line for Ole Miss, where Sean Tuohy had been a standout basketball player.
Nineteen years later, Oher has asked for the agreement to end in a probate court filing accusing the Tuohys of enriching themselves at his expense and lying to him by having him sign papers making them his conservators rather than his adoptive parents. Oher, who played eight NFL seasons, claims the Tuohys never took legal action to assume custody before he turned 18, though he was told to call them “Mom” and “Dad.”
The demand by Oher, whose life story was turned into the Oscar-nominated film “The Blind Side,” has led to scrutiny of the Tuohys and of the agreement itself, with one expert questioning how a judge approved it.
“There are a lot of not just unusual, but shocking and maybe never before seen things, for even attorneys experienced in this area,” said Victoria Haneman, a professor of trusts and estates at the Creighton University School of Law.
Now 37, Oher seeks a full accounting of assets, considering his life story produced millions of dollars, though he says he received nothing from the movie. He accuses the Tuohys of falsely representing themselves as his adoptive parents, saying he only discovered in February that the conservatorship provided him no familial relationship to them.
The Tuohys said they loved Oher like a son and supported him when he lived with them and when he was in college. They are devastated by accusations by Oher, who has been estranged from them for about a decade, their lawyers say.
In Tennessee, a conservatorship removes power from a person to make decisions for themselves, and it is often used in the case of a medical condition or disability. But Oher’s conservatorship was approved “despite the fact that he was over 18 years old and had no diagnosed physical or psychological disabilities,” his petition said.
The Tuohys said they set up the conservatorship to help Oher with health insurance, a driver’s license and being admitted to college. Their lawyers said in a news conference Wednesday that the Tuohys never received money from Oher’s NFL contracts or shoe deals and they split money from “The Blind Side,” which earned the couple, their two children and Oher an estimated $100,000 apiece.
The Tuohys didn’t instead adopt Oher because the conservatorship was the fastest way to satisfy the NCAA’s concerns that the Tuohys weren’t simply steering a talented athlete to Ole Miss, lawyer Randall Fishman said.
“There was one thing to accomplish, and that was to make him part of the family, so that the NCAA would be satisfied because Sean would have been a booster of the university,” Fishman said.
The Tuohys’ lawyers said they intend to end the conservatorship and that the accounting Oher asked for would not be difficult.
Still, how the agreement was reached raised concerns for Haneman, the Creighton professor.
“I am frankly floored that any judge allowed them to use the conservatorship in this way, you know, with the purpose of circumventing NCAA rules,” she said.
Haneman also questioned why the conservatorship didn’t include a medical affidavit showing disability, or the appointment of a guardian ad litem who would protect Oher and provide an “independent set of eyes.” Both are typically part of conservatorships, she said.
Haneman said there were other legal options available, such as power of attorney, that would not have stripped Oher of his “legal capacity.”
“At the end of the day, you do not put an adult in a conservatorship because they need help with a driver’s license or college applications,” Haneman said.
Fishman said the medical affidavit wasn’t needed because Oher didn’t have mental or physical disabilities. Also, Oher had no assets to be accounted for, and the Tuohys were only made “conservator of the person.”
“People have been saying, ‘Well, you’ve got to have some kind of issue to be a ward in a conservatorship,’” Fishman said Thursday. “That’s just not true. He just needed some guidance and that’s why the court did it.”
Fishman said the guardian issue was waived because Oher was 18 and his mother consented.
Another Tuohy attorney, Martin Singer, said in a statement that profit participation checks and studio accounting statements support the assertions that Oher received money from the film.
When Oher refused to cash the checks, the statement said, the Tuohys deposited Oher’s share into a trust account for his son.
The couple said agents negotiated the advance for the Tuohys and Oher from the production company for “The Blind Side,” based on a book written by Sean Tuohy’s friend Michael Lewis.
Lewis told The Washington Post that no one involved in the book received millions of dollars. Regarding money made off the profits from the film, which raked in hundreds of millions of dollars, Lewis said that he and the Tuohy family each received around $350,000 after taxes and agent fees.
“It’s outrageous how Hollywood accounting works, but the money is not in the Tuohys’ pockets,” Lewis told the newspaper in an interview published Wednesday.
People depicted in biopics typically do not make a lot of money because they have little bearing on a movie’s success, said Julie Shapiro, director of the Entertainment and Media Law Institute at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
“Most often, it’s the actors, director and screenwriters who determine the financial success of a project,” Shapiro said. Studios do not need to acquire someone’s “life rights” to tell a story. But they often do it to prevent lawsuits, she said.
The petition by Oher, who has never been a fan of the movie about his life, asks that the Tuohys be sanctioned and pay damages.
Some have questioned why the Tuohys didn’t simply adopt Oher as an adult.
“There’s no really clear answer as to what the legal obstacle was for them to complete the adoption,” Haneman said. “They did say (Wednesday) that it was a timing issue, but that timing issue would not have prevented them from completing the adoption while he was at Ole Miss.”
Artificial intelligence. Abortion. Guns. Marijuana. Minimum wages.
Name a hot topic, and chances are good there’s a new law about it taking effect in 2025 in one state or another.
Many of the laws launching in January are a result of legislation passed this year. Others stem from ballot measures approved by voters. Some face legal challenges.
Here’s a look at some of the most notable state laws taking effect:
Director of Photography Jac Cheairs and his son, actor Wyatt Cheairs, 11, take part in a rally by striking writers and actors outside Netflix studio in Los Angeles on Friday, July 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)
Hollywood stars and child influencers
California, home to Hollywood and some of the largest technology companies, is seeking to rein in the artificial intelligence industry and put some parameters around social media stars. New laws seek to prevent the use of digital replicas of Hollywood actors and performers without permission and allow the estates of dead performers to sue over unauthorized AI use.
Parents who profit from social media posts featuring their children will be required to set aside some earnings for their young influencers. A new law also allows children to sue their parents for failing to do so.
In advance of Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri’s Congressional testimony, to illustrate the harms children face on social media, parent activists brought an “Instagrinch” to the Capitol building in Washington, Dec. 7, 2021. (Eric Kayne/AP Images for ParentsTogether, File)
Social media limits
New social media restrictions in several states face court challenges.
A Florida law bans children under 14 from having social media accounts and requires parental consent for ages 14 and 15. But enforcement is being delayed because of a lawsuit filed by two associations for online companies, with a hearing scheduled for late February.
A new Tennessee law also requires parental consent for minors to open accounts on social media. NetChoice, an industry group for online businesses, is challenging the law. Another new state law requires porn websites to verify that visitors are at least 18 years old. But the Free Speech Coalition, a trade association for the adult entertainment industry, has filed a challenge.
Several new California measures aimed at combating political deepfakes are also being challenged, including one requiring large social media platforms to remove deceptive content related to elections and another allowing any individual to sue for damages over the use of AI to create fabricated images or videos in political ads.
Parents, students, and staff of Chino Valley Unified School District hold up signs in favor of protecting LGBTQ+ policies at Don Antonio Lugo High School, in Chino, Calif., June 15, 2023. (Anjali Sharif-Paul/The Orange County Register via AP, File)
School rules on gender
In a first nationally, California will start enforcing a law prohibiting school districts from adopting policies that require staff to notify parents if their children change their gender identification. The law was a priority for Democratic lawmakers who wanted to halt such policies passed by several districts.
Christian F. Nunes, president of National Organization for Women speaks as abortion rights activists and Women’s March leaders protest as part of a national day of strike actions outside the Supreme Court, Monday, June 24, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
Abortion coverage
Many states have passed laws limiting or protecting abortion rights since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a nationwide right to the procedure in 2022. One of the latest is the Democratic-led state of Delaware. A law there will require the state employee health plan and Medicaid plans for lower-income residents to cover abortions with no deductible, copayments or other cost-sharing requirements.
Seized firearms are displayed during a news conference Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
Gun control
A new Minnesota law prohibits guns with “binary triggers” that allow for more rapid fire, causing a weapon to fire one round when the trigger is pulled and another when it is released.
In Delaware, a law adds colleges and universities to a list of school zones where guns are prohibited, with exceptions for those working in their official capacity such as law officers and commissioned security guards.
Medical marijuana
Kentucky is becoming the latest state to let people use marijuana for medical purposes. To apply for a state medical cannabis card, people must get written certification from a medical provider of a qualifying condition, such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, chronic pain, epilepsy, chronic nausea or post-traumatic stress disorder. Nearly four-fifths of U.S. states have now legalized medical marijuana.
Minimum wages
Minimum wage workers in more than 20 states are due to receive raises in January. The highest minimum wages will be in Washington, California and Connecticut, all of which will top $16 an hour after modest increases.
The largest increases are scheduled in Delaware, where the minimum wage will rise by $1.75 to $15 an hour, and in Nebraska, where a ballot measure approved by voters in 2022 will add $1.50 to the current minimum of $12 an hour.
Twenty other states still follow the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.
A man talks on his cell phone while driving in Los Angeles, Monday June 30, 2008. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, File)
Safer traveling
In Oregon, using drugs on public transit will be considered a misdemeanor crime of interfering with public transportation. While the measure worked its way through the legislature, multiple transportation officials said drug use on buses and trains, and at transit stops and stations, was making passengers and drivers feel less safe.
In Missouri, law enforcement officers have spent the past 16 months issuing warnings to motorists that handheld cellphone use is illegal. Starting with the new year, penalties will kick in: a $150 fine for the first violation, progressing to $500 for third and subsequent offenses and up to 15 years imprisonment if a driver using a cellphone cause an injury or death. But police must notice a primary violation, such as speeding or weaving across lanes, to cite motorists for violating the cellphone law.
Montana is the only state that hasn’t banned texting while driving, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Tax breaks
Tenants in Arizona will no longer have to pay tax on their monthly rent, thanks to the repeal of a law that had allowed cities and towns to impose such taxes. While a victory for renters, the new law is a financial loss for governments. An analysis by Arizona’s nonpartisan Joint Legislative Budget Committee estimated that $230 million would be lost in municipal tax revenue during the first full fiscal year of implementation.
Meanwhile Alabama will offer tax credits to businesses that help employees with child care costs.
Kansas is eliminating its 2% sales tax on groceries. It also is cutting individual income taxes by dropping the top tax rate, increasing a credit for child care expenses and exempting all Social Security income from taxes, among other things. Taxpayers are expected to save about $320 million a year going forward.
Election board inspector Pat Cook readies “I Voted” stickers for voters during early voting in Oklahoma City, Friday, Oct. 29, 2010. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)
Voting rights
An Oklahoma law expands voting privileges to people who have been convicted of felonies but had their sentences discharged or commuted, including commutations for crimes that have been reclassified from felonies to misdemeanors. Former state Sen. George Young, an Oklahoma City Democrat, carried the bill in the Senate.
“I think it’s very important that people who have gone through trials and tribulations in their life, that we have a system that brings them back and allows them to participate as contributing citizens,” Young said.
___
Associated Press writers Trân Nguyễn in Sacramento, California; Kate Payne in Tallahassee, Florida; Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee; Randall Chase in Dover, Delaware; Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis; Bruce Schreiner in Frankfort, Kentucky; Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon; Summer Ballentine in Jefferson City, Missouri; Gabriel Sandoval in Phoenix; Kim Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama; John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas; and Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City contributed.
World
Russia downplays speculation over deadly Azerbaijan Airlines crash as report lays blame for downed plane
An Azerbaijan Airlines flight that crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, killing 38 people, was shot down by a Russian air defense system, Reuters reported Thursday.
The report cited four sources in Azerbaijan familiar with the investigation into the crash. One of the sources said preliminary results showed the plane was struck by a Russian Pantsir-S air defense system, and its communications were paralyzed by electronic warfare systems on the approach into Grozny, Reuters reported.
“No one claims that it was done on purpose,” the source told Reuters. “However, taking into account the established facts, Baku expects the Russian side to confess to the shooting down of the Azerbaijani aircraft.”
Officials in Russia and Kazakhstan have remained tight-lipped after the Azerbaijan Airlines flight crashed near the Kazakh city of Aktau with dozens of souls aboard.
RUSSIA BEING BLAMED FOR AZERBAIJAN AIRLINES PLANE THAT CRASHED HUNDREDS OF MILES OFF COURSE, KILLING DOZENS
The crash near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau killed 38 people on Christmas Day. (Azamat Sarsenbayev)
A Ukrainian national security official has blamed Russian air defense fire for the deadly crash, which killed 38 people on Christmas Day.
The Embraer 190 passenger jet flying from Azerbaijan to Russia had 62 passengers and five crew on board, according to Kazakh authorities. It had flown hundreds of miles off its scheduled route to crash on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea. Twenty-nine people survived.
Video of the crash showed the plane descending rapidly before bursting into flames as it hit the seashore, and thick black smoke then rising, Reuters reported.
The plane was en route from the Azerbaijani capital of Baku to the Russian city of Grozny in the North Caucasus, the Associated Press reports. (The Administration of Mangystau Region)
Officials did not immediately explain why the plane had crossed the sea, but the crash came shortly after drone strikes hit southern Russia. Drone activity has shut down airports in the area in the past and the nearest Russian airport on the plane’s flight path was closed on Wednesday morning.
On Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the cause of the crash is under investigation. He told reporters that “it would be wrong to make hypotheses before investigators make their verdict,” the Associated Press reported.
Kazakhstan’s parliamentary Speaker Maulen Ashimbayev also warned against rushing to conclusions based on pictures of the plane’s fragments, describing the allegations of air defense fire as unfounded and “unethical.”
Other officials in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have likewise declined to comment on the cause of the crash and pointed to the ongoing investigations for answers, according to the AP.
MORE THAN 30 DEAD IN BRAZIL BUS AND TRUCK COLLISION
Emergency crews at the site of the Azerbaijani airliner crash on Dec. 25, 2024. (Azamat Sarsenbayev)
Earlier, Ukrainian national security official Andriy Kovalenko blamed a “Russian air-defense system” for the crash in an X post on Wednesday.
“However, admitting this is inconvenient for everyone, so efforts will be made to cover it up, even the holes in the remaining parts of the aircraft,” Kovalenko claimed.
Aviation-security firm Osprey Flight Solutions also said the flight was “likely shot down by a Russian military air-defense sytem,” the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday night.
“Video of the wreckage and the circumstances around the airspace security environment in southwest Russia indicates the possibility the aircraft was hit by some form of antiaircraft fire,” Matt Borie, Osprey’s chief intelligence officer, said in an interview.
MALAYSIA AGREES TO RESUME ‘NO FIND, NO FEE’ HUNT FOR FLIGHT MH370, 10 YEARS AFTER PLANE DISAPPEARED
St. Petersburg Gov. Alexander Beglov places flowers at the Consulate of Azerbaijan in memory of the crash victims, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)
Russia’s aviation watchdog, meanwhile, said it was an emergency that may have been caused by a bird strike.
The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Azerbaijan observed a national day of mourning on Thursday for the 38 victims of the plane crash. National flags were lowered across the country, traffic stopped at noon and signals were sounded from ships and trains as the people observed a nationwide moment of silence, the AP reported.
“We will never forget the beloved people we lost in the crash of the ‘Embraer-190’ aircraft,” Azerbaijan Airlines said in a statement Thursday. “This loss left a deep wound in the heart of an entire community. It reminds us to be more compassionate and connected to one another.”
“May the souls of those who tragically lost their lives rest in peace, and may their memory live on forever.”
Fox News Digital’s Pilar Arias and Elizabeth Pritchett, along with Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Countries in the region have been on alert following a string of incidents involving undersea cables and gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea since 2022.
The EU Foreign Policy chief has said the bloc is preparing sanctions on what it calls Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ after an undersea power cable connecting Finland and Estonia was damaged in the Baltic Sea.
Kaja Kallas posted the joint statement from the EU Commission and the High Representative leading the investigation on X, saying the “suspected vessel is part of Russia’s shadow fleet, which threatens security and the environment, while funding Russia’s war budget.”
Kallas also said the EU was strengthening efforts to protect undersea cables, adding that there was no risk to regional electricity supplies.
That comes after Finnish authorities detained a Russian ship as part of an investigation into damage to the Estlink-2 power cable.
It carries electricity from Finland to Estonia across the Baltic Sea and went down on Wednesday.
Finnish police and border guards boarded the Eagle S vessel on Thursday and took over the command bridge, Helsinki Police Chief Jari Liukku said at a press conference.
The vessel was being held in Finnish territorial waters, police said.
The Eagle S is flagged in the Cook Islands but was described by Finnish customs officials and the European Union’s executive commission as part of Russia’s shadow fleet of fuel tankers.
Those are aging vessels with obscure ownership, acquired to skirt Western sanctions and operating without Western-regulated insurance.
Russia’s use of the vessels has raised environmental concerns about accidents given their age and uncertain insurance coverage.
The Eagle S’ anchor is suspected of causing damage to the cable, Yle television reported, citing police statements.
The Estonian government met in emergency session over the incident.
The shadow tankers “are helping Russia to earn funds that will aid Russian hybrid attacks,” Prime Minister Kristen Michal said at a news conference.
“We need to improve the monitoring and protection of critical infrastructure both on land and on sea.”
He said repairs to the cable could take as long as seven months.
ADVERTISEMENT“Repeated damage to Baltic Sea infrastructure signals a systemic threat, not mere accidents,” Estonia’s President Alar Karis said on X.
“Estonia will take action to counter this threat, together with Finland and other NATO allies.”
On high alert
Countries in the region have been on alert following a string of incidents involving undersea cables and gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea since 2022.
Two data cables — one running between Finland and Germany and the other between Lithuania and Sweden — were severed in November.
ADVERTISEMENTGermany’s defence minister said officials had to assume the incident was “sabotage,” but he didn’t provide evidence or say who might have been responsible.
And the Nord Stream pipelines that once brought natural gas from Russia to Germany were damaged by underwater explosions in September 2022.
Authorities have said the cause was sabotage and launched criminal investigations.
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