Tiger Woods has argued that ex-girlfriend Erica Herman never made any claims of sexual assault or sexual harassment in the lawsuit over her right to live in his Florida mansion, and has urged that the case go to arbitration .
Herman, 38, is suing a trust she claims Woods, 47, controls, for $30 million and alleging he tricked her into leaving the Florida mansion where they lived together for six years after their split in October had.
She claimed she had an oral agreement with Woods’ Trust – the Jupiter Island Irrevocable Homestead Trust – which is the legal owner of his Hobe Sound mansion where the two lived together, which allowed her to stay on the property for 11 years to live.
Woods has now filed a motion in the Complaint in the 19th Judicial Circuit Court in Martin County, Fla., for an injunction to compel arbitration in this matter.
In the latest filing obtained by , the 15-time Major winner’s lawyers claim Herman is not a victim of sexual abuse but an “abandoned ex-girlfriend”.
Tiger Woods has pushed for his ex-girlfriend Erica Herman’s lawsuit to be brought to arbitration over her right to live on his Florida property, arguing she has never made any sexual assault claims
Woods’ attorneys said the golf star never had a verbal or written lease with Herman to live in his $48 million Florida home and that she lived on the property as a “guest.”
Herman sued the Jupiter Island Irrevocable Homestead Trust, which owns the Hobe Sound home where she lived with Woods for six years while they were together. Hobe Sound, located on Jupiter Island, has been home to past Presidents and A-listers
They also argue that their claims are subject to Woods and Herman’s arbitration agreement since they have not made any sexual assault claims in this particular lawsuit.
The golf icon had previously attempted arbitration on December 22 to determine that Herman has no right of occupancy at his home and is not entitled to monetary damages from him.
The prior motion to stay the claims and enforce arbitration says Herman signed a non-disclosure agreement that is included in the filing but is heavily redacted. It stated that all disputes should be overseen by an independent arbitrator and not courts.
However, the case was dropped on Jan. 26 after Herman claimed that she could not be forced into arbitration because “her claims of breach of an oral lease involve a ‘sexual harassment dispute’.”
Herman is also taking Woods to court over the NDA, which she alleges was wrongly imposed on her, citing the Speak Out Act and alleging in the bombshell lawsuit that he sexually abused her.
In the separate court filing filed last week to void the NDA she signed with him on Aug. 9, 2017, Herman made the chilling allegation that the 82-time PGA Tour winner sexually abused her but did not go into detail as to what the alleged abuse involved.
However, in the recent filing of the dispute over her alleged lease, Wood’s attorneys note that Herman has made no claims of sexual assault or sexual harassment in this particular landlord-tenant lawsuit.
It notes that Herman checked the “No” box for the question, “Does this case involve allegations of sexual abuse?” in filling out the civil cover sheet for her lawsuit over his Florida mansion.
‘She [Herman] has never made claims of sexual assault or sexual harassment, is not doing so in this landlord-tenant lawsuit and, if honest, never can,” the document said.
‘MS. Herman’s mere reference to the law, without claims to base its application on the facts of this case, is not sufficient to relieve Ms. Herman of her contractual obligation to arbitrate. Rather, it is a blatant abuse of the legal process that undermines the purpose of the federal law and those the law seeks to protect.
“Accordingly, Defendant requests that this court (i) review the allegations in Ms. Herman’s self-titled complaint of violation of the Florida Residential Landlord Tenant Act, (ii) find that this complaint is not “a case brought under Federal, Tribal , or state law and relates to [a] Disputes about sexual assault [a] Dispute over sexual harassment”; and (iii) direct the parties to arbitrate the claims asserted in this lawsuit.’
Attorneys for Woods note that Herman has not filed any claims of sexual assault or sexual harassment in this particular landlord-tenant case
The motion notes that Herman checked the “no” box for the question, “Are there allegations of sexual abuse in this case?”
Woods and Herman dated for six years but split in October 2022
The pair were last seen together at the US Open in August 2022
The filing, therefore, alleges that Herman’s complaint of violation of the Florida Residential Landlord Tenant Act “contains no allegation that remotely suggests sexual harassment or sexual assault.”
The document also states that Herman’s complaint “does not contain any reference to any federal, tribal or state law relating to sexual harassment or sexual assault,” but instead “alleges that the trust violated an alleged oral lease agreement.”
Lawyers for Woods also allege that Herman is not a victim of sexual assault or sexual abuse, which Congress is trying to protect with the act she cited, but “a deserted ex-girlfriend who wants to take flimsy allegations publicly to court instead of her.” to honor commitment to settle disputes in a confidential arbitration process.’
The latest filing comes days after the PGA Tour star also filed a motion for intervention, in which his attorneys wrote Herman sued the trust instead of Woods to avoid an agreement she had with him to protect everyone to settle disputes.
Woods’ attorneys allege that the trust owns “only a limited remaining interest” in his home in Jupiter, Fla., and that Herman’s complaints are against Woods and not the trust.
In Herman’s lawsuit, filed in October, she said she should have lived in the house for another five years, but Woods “pulled tricks” after her split, causing her to suffer “serious” emotional damage.
The complaint says she provided “valuable services” at Woods’ request under the “verbal lease agreement,” which gave her the right to reside at the property for a “specified period of time,” and alleges that she always another had right of residence for another five years.
Herman claimed former world No. 1 Woods talked her into taking a short holiday and when she arrived at the airport his representatives told her she had been locked out.
Herman also claimed that Woods’ reps removed $40,000 of her money and made “weird and defamatory allegations” about how she got the money.
In a separate lawsuit filed last week to quash a nondisclosure agreement, Herman alleged that Woods sexually abused her, but didn’t go into detail, just ticking the “yes” box under the question, “Does this case involve allegations of sexual assault?” Abuse?”
Herman had worked as the general manager at her boyfriend’s restaurant at the Genesis Open at the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, California
They were first spotted at the Presidents Cup in New Jersey in October 2017 (pictured).
Lawyers for Woods disputed those claims last week, saying he never negotiated a written or verbal lease with her and that she lives on the property as the golf icon’s “guest”.
They also claimed Woods arranged for Herman to stay at a local luxury resort and gave her money to apply for a new residency following their split in October.
Woods and Herman dated for six years after they were first spotted at the Presidents Cup in New Jersey in October 2017.
She had worked as general manager at the restaurant — a pop-up at the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, California, where Woods recently returned to competitive golf for the first time since the British Open last July — owned by her boyfriend.
Woods’ attorneys previously stated that he called the case off on Oct. 13, 2022, and that Herman “responded to the breakup by filing this lawsuit.”
They added that their claim that she wants to live on the property is “directly detrimental” to the interests of Woods and his children, who live in the home with the professional golfer.