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Erica Herman, who was a longtime girlfriend of the golfer Tiger Woods, filed two separate lawsuits after the couple’s six-year relationship ended. Both filings were filed in Martin County, Florida Circuit Court.
The first complaint, filed in October 2022, alleges that a trust owned by Woods violated the Florida Residential Landlord Tenant Act by breaking the oral tenancy agreement. The filing says the actual damages “are likely to be assessed at over $30,000,000.” Woods is not named as a defendant in the October lawsuit.
In December, the trust filed a motion for the court to dismiss with prejudice in response to Herman’s complaint, alleging that the dispute between the two began when Woods broke off his relationship with Herman in October and informed her ” that she was no longer welcome in “Woods House.”
He further states that the nondisclosure agreement (NDA) between the two called for “confidential arbitration in all disputes between” Herman and Woods, and that Herman’s lawsuit violates that agreement. A copy of the NDA is attached to Woods’ petition, but the publicly available version of that document is fully redacted.
A more recent complaint to overturn the NDA was served on Woods on Monday. Both cases are brought by Fisher Potter Hodas, a Florida-based family law specialist. CNN contacted Fisher Potter Hodas for further comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
CNN also reached out to Woods’ representatives for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.
The October filing alleges that Woods’ Jupiter Island Irrevocable Homestead Trust illegally terminated Herman’s tenancy at the couple’s property in Hobe Sound, Florida.
The legal filing states that “Defendant (Woods and his trust) chose to engage in ‘prohibited practices’, i.e. self-help, causing…serious emotional harm to Plaintiff.” The prohibited practices were committed intentionally, with premeditation and with premeditation. »
Specifically, the lawsuit claims that “agents of the defendant” told Herman “to pack for a short vacation” before revealing to him that she had been locked outside the house when she arrived in the airport. He claims the trust’s lawyers were on hand to “confront” Herman with “proposals to address the wrongdoings they were doing.”
The filing also alleges that agents of Woods and the trust have since removed Herman’s property from the property and “embezzled” more than $40,000 of his money.
The NDA was signed in August 2017 according to the court filing, but Herman believes it is “invalid and unenforceable.”
He notes that during the litigation, a trust controlled by Woods initiated arbitration against Herman based on the NDA, expressing its belief that the agreement remains valid.
The filing asks that the NDA’s “purported arbitration clause” be found unenforceable under the 2021 federal law ending forced arbitration of sexual assault and sexual harassment and the federal Speak Out Act.
The former bill, which entered public law in March 2022, “invalidates arbitration agreements that prevent a party from bringing a lawsuit for sexual assault or sexual harassment, at the election of the party alleging such conduct”, according to Congress‘ website.
THE Speaking Act became public law in December 2022 and “prohibits the judicial enforceability of a non-disclosure clause or a non-disparagement clause agreed upon before a dispute arises regarding sexual assault or sexual harassment”.
The filing does not accuse Woods of sexual assault or sexual harassment. In a civil cover sheet attached to the October lawsuit, Herman’s attorney said “no” when asked if the case “involved allegations of sexual abuse.”