A judge in Florida expressed skepticism about claims Tiger Woods’ ex-girlfriend Erica Herman is making in seeking to nullify a nondisclosure agreement that stipulates their legal disputes be adjudicated by a private arbitrator.
In March, Herman sued Woods, seeking to invalidate the NDA that she signed in August of 2017 at the beginning of their relationship, on grounds that the Speak Out Act enabled the agreements to be voided in the case of sexual assault or abuse.
Herman had filed a $30 million suit against Woods’ trust last October for alleged sexual harassment.
She has since claimed that Woods imposed the NDA on her while she was working at his restaurant in Jupiter, Fla.
Last week, she filed court documents claiming she feared winding up “heartbroken and jobless” if she agreed to the NDA and the relationship with Woods fell through, before ultimately signing the agreement.
In the suit, Herman alleged that Woods locked her out of the home the former couple shared, violating an oral agreement between the two that she would be able to remain there for five more years.
After Herman sought to nullify the NDA, Woods filed a response that claimed, “Ms. Herman is a jilted ex-girlfriend who wants to publicly litigate specious claims in court, rather than honor her commitment to arbitrate disputes in a confidential arbitration proceeding.”
Tiger Woods and Erica Herman at the 2019 US Open. GC Images
Tiger Woods and Erica Herman at the 2022 British Open. REUTERSOn Tuesday, Circuit Judge Elizabeth Metzger held a 45-minute hearing in which Woods’ attorney, J.B. Murray, and Herman’s attorney, Benjamin Hodas, were present, but Woods and Herman were not.
“Contract law tells me I look at the document and I ask, ‘Is it valid on its face?’ I’ve got dates, I’ve got signatures, I’ve got terms,” Metzger said at the hearing, according to the Associated Press.
The judge asked Herman’s attorney what choice she had other than to quash the lawsuit and determine that it had to be resolved in arbitration, as the NDA had required.
Tiger Woods’ attorney J.B. Murray argues before Circuit Judge Elizabeth Metzger on May, 9, 2023, at the Martin County Courthouse in Stuart, Fla. AP
Tiger Woods’ attorney J.B. Murray leaves court after arguing before Circuit Judge Elizabeth Metzger at the Martin County Courthouse in Stuart, Fla. on May, 9, 2023. AP
Erica Herman’s attorneys Zachary Potter, center, and Benjamin Hodas, front, discuss Herman’s case in Circuit Judge Elizabeth Metzger’s courtroom at the Martin County Courthouse in Stuart, Fla. on May, 9, 2023. APHodas admitted that his client had signed an NDA, but questioned whether the specific one that Woods’ attorneys presented to the court was the one Herman had signed.
“We don’t know,” Herman’s attorney told the judge. “My client cannot say for certain that is her signature and she does not recall signing this document.”
Murray, Woods’ attorney, called this point “a bit of a red herring.”
“One thing you did not hear Mr. Hodas say is that she did not sign it,” Murray told the judge. “They are not bold enough.”
The judge said she would issue a decision on the matter in writing, but did not specify a date.
