Erica Herman, the ex-girlfriend of golfing celebrity Tiger Woods, is suing him to get out of a non-disclosure settlement, claiming that she used to be a sufferer of his sexual harassment. Woods’ lawyers are anticipated to argue in court docket that the lawsuit in opposition to him will have to be stopped as a result of the non-disclosure settlement, which calls for any disagreements between them to be settled privately via an arbitrator.
Herman controlled Woods’ eating place in Palm Beach County, Florida, earlier than and all the way through the preliminary years in their romantic courting. She contends that the nondisclosure settlement isn’t enforceable underneath a brand new federal legislation, which states that such contracts will also be rendered void when sexual abuse or sexual harassment has been perpetrated. Herman’s legal professional Benjamin Hodas asserts that Woods allegedly threatened to fireside Herman if she didn’t signal the contract, constituting sexual harassment.
“A boss imposing different work conditions on his employee because of their sexual relationship is sexual harassment,” Hodas mentioned.
However, Woods’ legal professional J.B. Murray denies the allegations, calling them “utterly meritless.” Woods has no longer but showed whether or not he’ll attend the listening to earlier than Circuit Judge Elizabeth Metzger, which marks the start of what generally is a lengthy and contentious prison dispute.
In Herman’s lawsuit in opposition to Woods, she is inquiring for Judge Metzger both void the nondisclosure settlement or instruct her on what occasions she will be able to speak about in public. For instance, she is not sure whether or not she will be able to speak about occasions that took place earlier than their settlement or after their breakup, or to expose information she realized about Woods from others. Herman could also be arguing that the contract best covers her paintings courting with Woods and no longer their private lifestyles.
Herman has additionally filed a separate $30 million case in opposition to the consider that owns Woods’ $54 million Florida mansion, claiming that she used to be illegally evicted from the valuables. In her lawsuit, she is basing her declare on the price of renting a belongings related to Woods’ beachfront mansion in Palm Beach County for the six years of place of abode that she used to be allegedly promised by Woods.
Herman claims that she and Woods started relationship in 2015, and that during overdue 2016, she moved into Woods’ 30,000-square-foot mansion. However, Woods denies their courting started till 2017 in a while earlier than they moved in in combination, round the similar time the nondisclosure settlement used to be signed. In March 2017, Woods transferred the possession of the mansion to the Jupiter Island Irrevocable Homestead Trust he created for his two youngsters and himself. Forbes Magazine estimates Woods’ web price at $1.1 billion.
Court paperwork filed by Woods’ legal professionals on Monday come with an August 2017 electronic mail trade between Herman and Christopher Hubman, the manager monetary officer of Tiger Woods Ventures. Herman mentioned she would signal the nondisclosure settlement however had considerations over how her private {and professional} lives had been hooked up. “If something happened 5-10 years down the road, I don’t want to be in my 40s, heartbroken and jobless,” she wrote.
In her illegal eviction lawsuit in opposition to the consider, Herman alleges that Woods burdened her to hand over her activity managing his eating place in 2020, pronouncing he sought after her to spend extra time caring for him and his youngsters. Herman says that Woods then evicted her whilst she used to be packing for a Bahamas weekend shuttle, tricking her into leaving the valuables with best what she may stuff in a small suitcase.
When Woods’ legal professionals returned her private assets, they stored $40,000 in money, “making scurrilous and defamatory allegations” about how she got it, she provides.