MIAMI, FLORIDA: Tiger Woods' ex-girlfriend Erica Herman was reportedly denied her request to have a non-disclosure agreement between her and the links legend voided. The new development comes more than two months after Herman sued her ex-boyfriend and his trust for $30 million following the end of their relationship.
Judge Elizabeth Metzger is said to have rejected 39-year-old Herman’s motion to have the 2017 NDA voided. Herman accused Woods, 47, of sexual harassment during their six-year relationship and alleged that the NDA in question was "wrongfully enforced" upon her. In her motion, the plaintiff also cited the Speak Out Act as a reason why the document should be voided. The federal law reportedly allows alleged victims to speak out in cases involving potential sexual misconduct or harassment.
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Judge Metzger, however, ruled against the request on Wednesday, May 17, adding that Herman’s sexual harassment accusations against Woods were “vague and threadbare.” She wrote in an 11-page opinion, “Herman has had the opportunity to provide factual specificity for any claim relating to sexual assault or sexual harassment, however, she has not done so." Herman brought the lawsuit against Woods after claiming the professional golfer kicked her out of their Florida residence.
Herman used to manage a South Florida restaurant owned by Woods both before and during the start of the pair's relationship in 2017. According to her, the golfer forced her to either sign an NDA in August 2017 or she would lose her job at the restaurant. "Mr. Woods was Ms. Herman's boss,” Herman’s lawyer, Benjamin Hodas, wrote in the March 5 complaint. "In Mr. Woods's own portrayal of events, he imposed an NDA on her as a condition to keep her job when she began having a sexual relationship with him. A boss imposing different work conditions on his employee because of their sexual relationship is sexual harassment," Hodas added. "And, when he became disgruntled with their sexual relationship, he tricked her into leaving her home, locked her out, took her cash, pets, and personal possessions, and tried to strong-arm her into signing a different NDA."
It's worth noting that Woods has vehemently denied sexually harassing Herman or forcing her to sign the 2017 NDA at the risk of losing her job. Instead, he dubbed her a “jilted ex-girlfriend” who “wants to publicly litigate specious claims in court." “Ms. Herman agreed to arbitrate any dispute with Mr. Woods as consideration for, among things, the opportunity to continue to spend time with Mr. Woods and to be privy to certain private and confidential aspects of his personal life and his professional and business endeavors,” Woods’ lawyers wrote in a response in March. “For more than six years, Ms. Herman enjoyed the benefits of her agreement. Now that her relationship with Mr. Woods has ended, however, she seeks to disregard her obligation to arbitrate disputes with Mr. Woods," they added.