Ex-girlfriend: Tiger Woods used his lawyer to break up with me

(AP) – $30 million legal battle tiger woods And his ex-girlfriend escalated, Erica Herman accused the golf superstar of starting a sexual relationship when she was his employee, and had to sign a non-disclosure agreement she now wants to void. He threatened to fire her.

In court documents filed late Friday, Herman accused Woods of forcing his attorney to break up with her at the airport in October after lying to her that he was going on a weekend trip. evicted her from Woods’ $54 million mansion north of Palm Beach.

The documents were filed ahead of Tuesday’s hearing when Woods’ attorneys are scheduled to ask Circuit Court Judge Elizabeth Metzger to drop Herman’s lawsuit against his billionaire client. They say the former couple’s non-disclosure agreement requires that all disputes be resolved privately by an arbitrator, not in court.

Herman, who managed Woods’ Palm Beach County restaurant for the years before and during the first few years of the romantic relationship, said that such contracts could be void if sexual abuse or harassment occurs. Under federal law, they argue that non-disclosure agreements are unenforceable. ing.

“A boss who imposes different working conditions on an employee because of a sexual relationship is sexual harassment,” Hodus said.

Harman, 39, charged the trust that owns Woods’ mansion $30 million and verbally promised in 2017 that she could live there for at least 11 years, but kicked her out five years later.

Woods’ attorney, J.B. Murray, has denied that the 47-year-old golfer sexually assaulted or harassed Herman, saying her accusations in court documents are “absolutely nonsensical.”

Neither Hodus nor Murray responded to emails or phone calls seeking comment.

It’s unclear if Woods will attend Tuesday’s hearing.

In Harman’s case against Woods, she wants Judge Metzger to void the non-disclosure agreement or at least give her guidance on what she can say publicly. Can you discuss what happened? What about the information she learned about Woods from others? It claims that it does not.

In her wrongful eviction lawsuit against the trust, she is making a $30 million claim based on the cost of renting properties like the Woods mansion for six years of allegedly denied residency. .

When Hodus filed a lawsuit against the trust in October, he ticked a box on a standardized form and said the case did not involve sexual abuse.of Harman’s March Lawsuit Speaking to Woods, Hodorus ticked a box and said the case involved abuse. Hodas does not explain the apparent discrepancies.

Before dating, Woods hired Herman in 2014 to help develop and operate Golfer’s The Woods Sports Bar and Restaurant in nearby Jupiter.

Herman told the court that their romantic relationship began in 2015 and moved into Woods’ approximately 30,000-square-foot (2,800-square-meter) mansion in the Hove Sound community in late 2016.

In his court documents, Woods says their romantic relationship began in 2017, around the time a non-disclosure agreement was signed, just before she moved in with him that August. In March 2017, Woods moved the mansion into the Jupiter Island Irreversible Homestead Trust. Forbes Magazine estimates Woods’ net worth at his $1.1 billion.

After making their first public appearance as a couple at the Presidents Cup in late September 2017, Herrmann had a steady presence at bigger tournaments and events, including their final win at the 2019 Masters. . She was also with Woods at the White House in 2019 when then-President Donald Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Harman said Woods pressured her to quit running the restaurant in 2020, asking her to spend more time taking care of herself and her children.

Herman says Woods kicked her out by “a ruse.” She told her that Woods was going on her weekend trip to the Bahamas, so she packed her little bag and he drove her to her airport, where she was near a private plane. parked in

But instead of boarding, Woods told Herman to speak to a lawyer and left, she says.

“Suddenly,” the lawyer told her, she said, the relationship was over and she would be kicked out. She says she refused to sign another non-disclosure agreement that her lawyer tried to coerce her into.

When Woods’ attorneys returned her personal belongings, they kept $40,000 in cash and “made despicable and defamatory allegations” about how she obtained it, she claimed. ing.

Woods and ex-wife Elin Nordegren divorced in 2010, about nine months after getting involved in a string of extramarital affairs, losing blue-chip corporate sponsors and tarnishing their almost impeccable image.

Since then, he’s had a string of injuries and surgeries, including hip immobilization surgery in 2017 and an accident while driving an SUV off a coastal road in Los Angeles in February 2021 at age 85. The bone in my right leg was shattered.. (137 km/h).

Woods decided He competed in the recent Masters, but withdrew during the third round due to leg pain.he received ankle surgery It’s unclear when he will make his next appearance last month.