Their messy breakup then led to this litigation, which began when Herman filed a lawsuit in public court against the trust that Woods established for his mansion on the Treasure Coast of Florida. Herman never married Woods but had a relationship with him since about 2015 until October, according to court records. View Gallery: Tiger Woods: Moments that have shaped his career “But her counsel acknowledged that he had no facts to present to the Court as to its applicability.” What did Erica Herman want? “Herman cited the federal Speak Out Act within the Complaint,” Metzger noted in a footnote to her ruling. To get out of the NDA, her attorney, Benjamin Hodas, tried several strategies and even cited two new federal laws that basically invalidate NDAs and forced arbitration agreements in cases of sexual harassment or assault.īut Metzger said there wasn’t enough to support that, especially under the federal Speak Out Act, which was established last year to stop sexual predators from using NDAs to hide their abuse. Judge Metzger ordered this Wednesday after Herman sued Woods in March to be released from that NDA – a contract that required her to keep details of their private life confidential and to resolve any disputes between through such arbitration. Herman’s lawsuit against Woods will be resolved through confidential arbitration proceedings in accordance with the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) Woods’ attorney said they signed in 2017. Then she’d be trying a case in the court of public opinion.” “The only reason she’d want to avoid arbitration is because she wants to air whatever dirty laundry she has against Tiger outside the scope of a confidentiality agreement. “It certainly seems that she’s grasping at straws and trying to come up with a claim to avoid arbitration,” said Ryan Saba, a California civil trial attorney whose experience includes sexual abuse and women's rights cases. The case isn’t quite over, though the judge’s ruling gave support to the notion that this was all a leverage play by Herman for a financial settlement, according to an attorney who has been following the case but is not involved in it.

In her ruling, Judge Elizabeth Metzger essentially said that the attorney for Erica Herman laid out a weak case and failed to “provide factual specificity for any claim relating to sexual assault or sexual harassment.” The former girlfriend of Tiger Woods shared several clues in recent months that suggested the famed golfer had engaged in sexual harassment against her, including a form filed by her attorney in March that said her case against Woods involved “sexual abuse.”īut any details to support those clues were never fully revealed and now might never be after a state judge in Florida late Wednesday ordered their dispute to be resolved in private arbitration proceedings instead of public court.

Watch Video: What we know about the latest lawsuit against Tiger Woods by ex-girlfriend

Hunted erica woods