STUART, Fla. — The ex-girlfriend of Tiger Woods is appealing a decision by a judge that rejected her attempt to quash the 2017 non-disclosure agreement in seeking seeking millions from the golf superstar amid allegations of sexual harassment.
Erica Herman's attorney filed a notice Friday in the Fourth District Court of Appeal in Florida. The arguments were not filed yet.
On May 17, 19th Circuit Judge Elizabeth Metzger ruled in Woods’ favor and sent the case back to private arbitration, rather than in public court, and noted that Herman herself never actually denied signing it.
She asked the court to reconsider and it was denied by Metzger on June 2.
"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," Metzger wrote.
At a May 9 hearing, her attorney, Benjamin Hodas, conceded that Herman signed an agreement, but he said she doesn't remember ever seeing the one Woods' attorneys presented to the court.
Herman, 39, had sued both Woods, 47, and the trust that owns his $54 million Florida mansion, seeking $30 million amid unspecified allegations of sexual harassment. Forbes Magazine estimates Woods’ net worth at $1.1 billion.
Herman said in her court filings that their romantic relationship began in 2015 and in late 2016 she moved into Woods' nearly 30,000-square-foot mansion in the ritzy Hobe Sound community. She said that in 2017, Woods verbally promised she could live there at least 11 more years. Herman said Woods pressured her to quit the job in 2020 so she could spend more time taking care of him and his children.
In court records, she said Woods pursued a sexual relationship with her when she was his employee to help develop and then operate The Woods sports bar and restaurant in nearby Jupiter. He alleges he forced her to sign an NDA about it – or be fired from her job if she did not.
In March 2017, Woods had put the mansion into the Jupiter Island Irrevocable Homestead Trust, an entity he created that has only himself and his two children as beneficiaries.
They ended their relationship last October before she filed her first suit, which was regarding the trust. She later filed the suit in March against Woods himself, seeking release from the NDA, and suggesting allegations of sexual assault and sexual harassment,