A Florida judge ruled late Wednesday that Tiger Woods’ ex-girlfriend must abide by a non-disclosure agreement she allegedly signed and resolve her lawsuit seeking millions from the golf star through private arbitration behind closed doors.
Circuit Judge Elizabeth Metzger, in an 11-page opinion, dismissed Erica Hermann’s attempt to set aside the 2017 agreement by arguing that Woods committed sexual harassment against her, calling Hermann’s allegations “vague and feeble.”
“Hermann was given the opportunity to provide factual details of any sexual assault or harassment allegation, but did not do so,” Metzger wrote.
Metzger also said the evidence shows a non-disclosure agreement was negotiated between Hermann and Woods in 2017, even if her attorney, Benjamin Hodas, now questions whether she actually signed it.
At a hearing on May 9, Hodas acknowledged that Herrmann signed an agreement, but said she did not remember seeing Woods’ lawyers who were brought to court.
If Herrmann categorically denied signing the agreement, Metzger said, she would have ordered a hearing on the issue. But since Hermann is not sure whether she signed it or not, it is a question for the arbitrator to decide.
JP Murray, an attorney for Hodas and La Woods, did not immediately return emails late Wednesday seeking comment. It is unknown if Hodas will appeal.
Herrmann, 39, sued Woods, 47, and the trust that owns his $54 million Florida mansion, asking for $30 million amid unspecified allegations of sexual harassment. Forbes estimates Woods’ net worth at $1.1 billion.
Hermann, who ran the Woods’ Palm Beach county restaurant before and during the early years of their romance, argues that a nondisclosure agreement is unenforceable under a new federal law that says such contracts can be canceled when sexual assault or harassment occurs.
She alleged in court documents that Woods threatened to fire her if she didn’t sign a non-disclosure agreement. Hodas argued that this is a form of harassment, whereby one employee is treated differently from others because they have a sexual relationship.
But the sexual harassment allegation was rarely mentioned during the hearing last week. Metzger told Hodas that she needed more information about what allegedly happened to look into it. Hodas said he couldn’t provide more information publicly for fear that it might violate the non-disclosure agreement if it was ultimately upheld.
Murray has called the allegation “completely baseless”.
In Hermann v. Woods lawsuit, she asked Metzger to either void the non-disclosure agreement or at least instruct her on what she could say publicly. She also argued that the contract only covered her working relationship with Woods, not their personal affairs.
In her wrongful eviction lawsuit against the trust, she based her $30 million claim on the cost of renting a property like the Woods beachfront mansion north of Palm Beach for a six-year stay that was allegedly promised by the golfer and then denied.
Before dating, Woods hired Hermann in 2014 to help develop and then run a golfer’s sports bar and restaurant, The Woods, in nearby Jupiter — but they didn’t get along when their romance and cohabitation began.
Herman says in her court filings that their romance began in 2015 and that in late 2016 she moved into the nearly 30,000-square-foot Woods mansion in the elegant Hope Sound community. She says that in 2017, she verbally promised Woods that she could live there for at least another 11 years. Herrmann says Woods pressured her into leaving the job in 2020 so she could spend more time looking after him and his children.
Woods says, in his court documents, that their romance began in 2017 and that she moved in with him in August, around the time their disputed non-disclosure agreement was signed. In March 2017, Woods placed the mansion in the Irrevocable Jupiter Island House Trust, an entity set up by him that only benefits him and his two children.