Tiger Woods has given a response to the $30 million lawsuit filed against his trust by his former girlfriend.
After the paperwork was filed by Erica Herman against Woods’ homestead trust for allegedly failing to abide by an “oral tenancy agreement” between the former couple, the attorneys for Woods responded in court to the lawsuit.
According to Yahoo! Sports, the attorneys, who labeled Herman a “jilted ex-girlfriend” suggested that she only filed the lawsuit to avoid a “confidential arbitration proceeding” that was agreed to in case of a dispute. It was also stated that she had never made any type of complaint asserting sexual assault or sexual harassment previously.
“Ms. Herman does nothing more than cite 9 U.S.C. §§ 401-402 and its salacious title, ‘The Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act,'” the filing stated. “She has never asserted any claims for sexual assault or sexual harassment, does not do so in this landlord-tenant action, and, if she is truthful, can never do so,” according to the legal papers that were filed and obtained by Yahoo! Sports
.The attorneys for Woods also stated that the actions Herman took with the filing of this lawsuit are a “transparent abuse of the judicial process” and labeled her “a jilted ex-girlfriend who wants to publicly litigate specious claims in court, rather than honor her commitment to arbitrate disputes in a confidential arbitration proceeding.”
They have requested that the court deny Herman’s appeal for release from the NDA and force her to settle this dispute via arbitration.
Herman filed the lawsuit in Florida, stating that Woods allegedly locked her out of the property after he ended the relationship with her in October.She is asserting damages of more than $30 million, while accusing the trust and its agents of misappropriating $40,000 in cash that belonged to her. She stated that they are making “scurrilous and defamatory allegations (about) how she obtained the money.”
In the lawsuit, she wrote that she had an “oral tenancy agreement” to remain at the residence for five additional years after being in effect for six years before the couple broke up.
In a separate complaint, she is also suing Woods and made a request that the court releases her from the non-disclosure agreement that she signed with Woods in 2017. She is alluding to being involved in either a sexual assault or harassment.
She claimed that the non-disclosure agreement is not enforceable under the federal Speak Out Act, which prohibits the judicial enforceability of such agreements in disputes involving sexual assault or harassment.