A Florida decide dominated that the ex-girlfriend of Tiger Woods should abide by a nondisclosure settlement she purportedly signed and resolve her lawsuits looking for tens of millions from the golf famous person by non-public arbitration behind closed doorways.
Circuit Judge Elizabeth Metzger, in an 11-page opinion, rejected Erica Herman’s try and quash the 2017 settlement by saying Woods had dedicated sexual harassment towards her, calling Herman’s allegations “vague and threadbare.” “Herman has had the opportunity (to) provide factual specificity for any claim relating to sexual assault or sexual harassment, however, she has not done so,” Metzger wrote.
Metzger additionally mentioned that the proof reveals {that a} nondisclosure settlement was negotiated between Herman and Woods in 2017, even when her lawyer, Benjamin Hodas, now questions whether or not she truly signed it.
At a May 9 listening to, Hodas conceded that Herman signed an settlement, however he mentioned she doesn’t bear in mind ever seeing the one Woods’ attorneys introduced to the courtroom.
Metzger mentioned that if Herman unequivocally denied signing the settlement, she would have ordered a listening to on that problem. But since Herman isn’t positive if she signed it or not, that could be a query for the arbitrator to resolve.
Nether Hodas nor Woods’ lawyer, J.B. Murray, instantly responded to late Wednesday emails looking for remark. It is unknown of Hodas will enchantment.
Herman, 39, had sued each Woods, 47, and the belief that owns his $54 million Florida mansion, looking for $30 million from the latter amid unspecified allegations of sexual harassment. Forbes Magazine estimates Woods’ web price at $1.1 billion.
Herman, who managed Woods’ Palm Beach County restaurant earlier than and throughout the first years of their romantic relationship, argues that the nondisclosure settlement is unenforceable beneath a brand new federal regulation that claims such contracts might be voided when sexual abuse or sexual harassment occurred.
She alleged in courtroom paperwork that Woods threatened to fireside her if she didn’t signal a nondisclosure settlement. Hodas argued that could be a kind of harassment, treating one worker totally different than others as a result of they’ve a sexual relationship.
But the sexual harassment allegation was barely talked about throughout final week’s listening to. Metzger instructed Hodas she wanted extra details about what allegedly occurred to contemplate it. Hodas mentioned he couldn’t present extra info publicly in concern that he could be violating the nondisclosure settlement whether it is in the end upheld.
Murray has referred to as the allegation “utterly meritless.” In Herman’s lawsuit towards Woods, she requested Metzger to both void the nondisclosure settlement or at the least give her steerage about what she will be able to say publicly. She additionally argued that the contract covers solely her work relationship with Woods, not their private issues.
In her unlawful-eviction lawsuit towards the belief, she is basing her $30 million declare on how a lot it might value to hire a property like Woods’ beachfront mansion north of Palm Beach for the six years of residence she was allegedly promised by the golfer after which denied.
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Before they dated, Woods employed Herman in 2014 to assist develop after which function the golfer’s The Woods sports activities bar and restaurant in close by Jupiter — however they don’t agree when their romantic relationship and cohabitation started.
Herman says in her courtroom filings that their romantic relationship started in 2015 and that in late 2016 she moved into Woods’ almost 30,000-square-foot (2,800-square-meter) mansion within the ritzy Hobe Sound group. She says that in 2017, Woods verbally promised she may dwell there at the least 11 extra years. Herman says Woods pressured her to give up the job in 2020 so she may spend extra time taking good care of him and his youngsters.
Woods, in his courtroom paperwork, says their romantic relationship started in 2017 and that she moved in with him that August, concerning the time the disputed nondisclosure settlement was signed. In March 2017, Woods had put the mansion into the Jupiter Island Irrevocable Homestead Trust, an entity he created that has solely himself and his two youngsters as beneficiaries.