Tiger Woods’ ex-girlfriend was refused a retrial by a Florida judge.
Judge Elizabeth Metzger denied Erica Herman’s request to publicly reopen a case that began with their October separation and contained Tiger Woods sexual harassment complaint.
Woods’ counsel argued she signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) in 2017, and the judge found in her favor May 17, sending the matter to private arbitration instead of public court. Herman’s attorney, Benjamin Hodas, disputed that NDA and said Herman didn’t remember signing it.
In court briefs this week, Hodas said the court should review the verdict to address “at least four issues that were overlooked or not considered,” including that Woods “could not meet his burden to establish the contract he seeks to enforce.”
Judge disapproved.
The judge ordered and adjudged that the request was refused.
The judge’s Monday online court order comprised one page.
How did this happen?
In October, Herman sued Woods’ Treasure Coast residence trust, not Woods. That lawsuit claimed he manipulated her into getting locked out of the house in breach of an oral tenancy agreement she said she had to stay there for years. Herman claimed more than $30 million in damages, but Woods’ attorney argued there was no such arrangement and accused Herman of being a “jilted ex-girlfriend” wanting to get out of her NDA to leverage her allegations in public.
In March, she sued Woods, claiming new federal rules that invalidate NDAs and forced arbitration agreements for sexual harassment. She hoped the court would release her from the NDA and forced arbitration, but the judge said she didn’t prove her harassment claim and didn’t deny signing the NDA.
The litigation against the trust is still in state court, but Metzger may submit it to arbitration under the same NDA.
Erica Herman, Tiger Woods’ ex-girlfriend, has alleged she was kicked out of their house last year in violation of an agreement.
A domestic dispute between Tiger Woods and his former girlfriend Erica Herman has spilled into court in Florida after he broke up with her in October and allegedly locked her out of the seaside mansion they shared on the Treasure Coast.
Erica Herman, the golf legend Tiger Woods‘ ex-girlfriend, responded by filing a lawsuit against a homestead trust he controls in Hobe Sound, Florida. She is now suing for more than $30 million in damages, claiming that the trust and its agents stole $40,000 from her and made “scurrilous and defamatory allegations about how she obtained the money.”
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Her lawsuit claimed she had a “oral tenancy agreement” to stay at the house for another five years, which had been in effect for six years prior to the breakup.
“The duties that Plaintiff was expected to perform and were expected to perform were extensive and of an extraordinary nature in light of the overall circumstances and environment in which she lived,” her lawsuit stated.
She also sued Wood in a separate complaint this week, asking the court to release her from her non-disclosure agreement with Woods from 2017. She claimed it was unenforceable under the federal Speak Out Act, which prohibits judicial enforcement of such agreements in sexual assault or harassment cases.
Both lawsuits are intertwined as Woods’ trust attorneys attempt to enforce the NDA and move the dispute out of public court and into private arbitration.
The first lawsuit was filed against the trust in October, but it was not made public until Wednesday.
Suit filed against the trust
“Plaintiff has repeatedly demanded to be allowed back into her home, but Defendant’s agents have refused,” Herman’s suit against the trust stated.
According to the lawsuit filed against the trust, she was forced out due to the “trickery” of trust agents who convinced her to pack a suitcase for a short vacation. When she arrived at the airport, she was informed that she had been locked out of her residence, in violation of the oral tenancy agreement and Florida law, according to the lawsuit.
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In response to the lawsuit, the trust has asked the court to compel confidential arbitration of the dispute. According to the lawsuit, the NDA between Woods and Herman requires arbitration for such disputes, and she sued the trust rather than Woods to avoid this requirement and “gain leverage by litigating her disputes with Mr. Woods in a public forum.”
Woods established the trust in 2017, according to court records filed by the trust. Woods and his children are the only potential beneficiaries. Its only asset is its ownership stake in this house.
“Ms. Herman was invited to live in the Residence while she was in a relationship with her former boyfriend, Eldrick (Tiger) Woods, who continues to live in the Residence with his two children,” the trust wrote in a court filing. “Ms. Herman was advised that she was no longer welcome in the Residence after Mr. Woods recently terminated the relationship.”
Herman, on the other hand, has fought back, citing a federal law that invalidates arbitration agreements that prevent a party from suing in court for sexual assault and harassment. The Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 is the name of this legislation.
The NDA
Herman, who worked as the manager of Woods’ Jupiter, Florida restaurant, has not made any specific allegations of assault or harassment against him. She is instead asking a court to declare her NDA at least partially unenforceable, allowing her to say more.
“This uncertainty is acute and significant,” she wrote in a court filing this week against Woods. “Because of the Defendant’s aggressive use of the Woods NDA against her and the trust under his control, the Plaintiff is unsure whether she may disclose, among other things, facts giving rise to various legal claims she believes she has.
She is also unsure of what other details about her own life she may discuss or with whom. As a result, there is an ongoing dispute between the Plaintiff and the Defendant, and the Plaintiff requires a clarifying declaration from the court.”
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According to Herman’s lawsuit against the trust, “all expenses related to Plaintiff’s residency, or resulting therefrom, were to be fully paid by the Defendant or its privies.” It also states that damages will be determined at trial and “are likely to exceed $30,000,000, given the substantial monthly rental value of the Residence.”
Attorneys for both sides did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The dispute adds to a long list of problems for Woods away from the golf course. In 2021, he recovered from a car accident near Los Angeles, the latest in a series of driving-related issues. He also divorced his wife Elin Nordegren in 2010 following a sex scandal.
