According to a court document this week in Florida, Tiger Woods’ ex-girlfriend voiced concerns about the non-disclosure agreement the famous golfer wanted her to sign in 2017, saying she would lose control and end up “heartbroken and jobless” in five to ten years if she did.
After Erica Herman, Woods’ ex-girlfriend, had an acrimonious breakup with him in October, the NDA is currently the focus of a high-profile legal battle in open court. She has accused Woods of sexual harassment and wants the court to invalidate the NDA. She emailed Woods’ company’s CFO, Chris Hubman, two days before it appears that she signed the contested NDA on August 9, 2017.
My biggest worry is if I would immediately lose my work if TW were to do something that ended our relationship. Herman enquired. “I don’t have any issues with the document because I wouldn’t go public or use what I know to harm him or the children, but given that my entire life is now in his hands, I would want to have some type of influence over my future in the company. I don’t want to be in my 40s, sad and jobless, if something happened in the next five to ten years. Thoughts?”
Earlier: Tiger Woods’ ex-girlfriend claims he harassed her sexually
COURT FILING: Ex-girlfriend of Woods divulges fresh information regarding their breakup.
Later that day, on August 7, Hubman responded by email. At that time, Herman worked at Woods’ Jupiter, Florida, restaurant, The Woods. In 2020, she left her work there, according to court records.
Tiger Woods Ventures’ chief financial officer Hubman wrote, “In my view, your employment by The Woods Jupiter and your personal relationship with TW are two separate items.” “I don’t believe that when one ends, the other necessarily follows, though I acknowledge that it might be difficult. Most likely, it will rely on the conditions, terms, or cause of the breakup of the partnership. The NDA only addresses the dissemination and control of information that you come into contact with as a result of your personal and professional relationship with TW, not the terms of your employment with TWJ.
I get it,” she said in response.
What is this about?
According to a letter submitted by her lawyer on Friday, Herman has accused Woods of sexual harassment. She claims that he had a sexual relationship with her while she was his employee and compelled her to sign a non-disclosure agreement about it under threat of losing her job if she didn’t.
Herman earlier filed a lawsuit against a trust created by Woods for his Florida home, claiming she was evicted in breach of an oral lease agreement. She sought damages totaling more than $30 million.
The emails were submitted to the court by Woods’ lawyer late on Sunday in response to Herman’s Friday court filing, which questioned the legality of the NDA and claimed Herman didn’t even remember signing it. To address this, Woods personally signed a statement about it on Sunday.
“Over the course of our relationship, I became accustomed to Ms. Herman’s handwriting and signature. The printed name of Ms. Herman is followed by her signature, according to Woods’ declaration submitted to the court. The dates and the handwriting on the address line beneath Ms Herman’s name on page 3 are in Ms Herman’s handwriting.
Disputes between them are to be settled through private arbitration rather than in open court, according to the contested three-page NDA filed as an exhibit in court. Based on that, Woods’ counsel is attempting to compel arbitration in this disagreement. Herman’s attorney, though, is contesting it, pointing to recent federal rules that nullify NDAs and mandate arbitration in sex harassment claims.
What is stated in the NDA?
The contested NDA’s preamble, which was filed in court, is as follows:
“I am entering into this Agreement of my own in exchange for the chance to continue to (i) interact with Eldrick “Tiger” Woods (“you”) and learn about some of the private and confidential aspects of your personal life as well as your professional and business endeavours, (ii) work at the restaurant called The Woods Jupiter that is indirectly owned by you, and for other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which is hereby acknowledged.
She is then instructed not to divulge “private and confidential information which is not generally known to the public” relative to her physical and mental health, sexual preferences, leisure pursuits, and personal relationships, among other things.
According to Hubman’s testimony in court documents, Herman asked for changes to the NDA including images of Woods’ children.
The NDA submitted to the court states that she “will not directly or indirectly post, share or upload on the internet or in any social media, or otherwise publish or disclose, any pictures, videos, films, tapes, or sound recordings of you, your family, your friends, or your business associates.” It is unclear what those revisions were.
Herman’s counsel attempted to undermine the alleged NDA in a document submitted to the court on Friday by claiming Woods didn’t appear bothered about it.
According to the letter supplied by attorney Benjamin Hodas, “Woods caused Ms. Herman to be allowed to wear a ‘players spouse’ badge, posing in public for photo opportunities (including on occasion with Mr. Woods’s children), and other public events.” “With Mr. Woods’s knowledge, Ms. Herman shared pictures of herself online with Mr. Woods, their acquaintances, and coworkers. Mr. Woods never used an NDA to halt such publicity, and if an NDA had been in existence, such action would have been forbidden.
Disputes are also supposed to be settled by arbitration, according to the NDA, but Herman disagrees and wants the court to rule that the NDA is invalid and unenforceable for a number of reasons.
“The Plaintiff is unsure whether she may disclose, among other things, facts giving rise to various legal claims she believes she has due to the aggressive use of the Woods NDA against her by the Defendant and the trust under his control,” her counsel wrote in the case, which was filed in March.
Herman has been called a “jilted ex-girlfriend” by Woods’ attorney, J.B. Murray, who also claims that Herman’s case is faulty and without merit.
He said in a letter submitted late Sunday that Ms. Herman “in this case does not even attempt to assert a cause of action rising to the level of sexual harassment under any federal, tribal, or state law.” This Court should not allow Ms. Herman to circumvent the arbitration agreement she had with Mr. Woods by making flimsy allegations of sexual harassment that are not even mentioned in her updated complaint.
