Golf: Woods’ ex-girlfriend asks judge to nullify non-disclosure agreement

Tiger Woods’ former girlfriend Erica Herman (left) has asked to nullify a non-disclosure agreement when the couple began dating in 2017. PHOTO: AFP/GETTY IMAGES

MIAMI – Tiger Woods’ ex-girlfriend has filed a lawsuit seeking to be released from a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that she says the golfer made her sign at the start of their relationship in 2017, court filings showed on Wednesday.

Erica Herman, who lived with the 15-time Major winner at his Florida mansion until late 2022, filed the request in the Circuit Court of the 19th Judicial Circuit in Martin County, Florida.

According to court records seen by AFP, her attorneys are arguing that the NDA she was required to sign is “invalid and unenforceable” under US federal legislation known as the Speak Out Act.

The law, which came into effect in 2022 in the wake of the MeToo movement, makes NDAs unenforceable in cases involving sexual assault and harassment.

Herman’s case filings did not go into further details and there are no specific allegations against Woods.

But in response to a question on the court filing which reads: “Does this case involve allegations of sexual abuse?“, her attorneys have checked the box marked “Yes”.

Her bid to waive her NDA marks an escalation of a legal dispute with Woods which began in October 2022, but which has gone largely unreported by United States media.

In court filings also seen by AFP, Herman’s lawyers have sued the Jupiter Island Irrevocable Homestead Trust, which is the legal entity that owns Woods’ Florida home.

Her suit alleges that “agents” for Woods duped her into leaving the mansion in 2022 by telling her to prepare for a vacation.

“By trickery, agents of the defendant (Woods) convinced the plaintiff (Herman) to pack a suitcase for a short vacation and, when she arrived at the airport, they told her she had been locked out of her residence,” the court filing said.

Herman’s lawyers claim Woods is in violation of an “oral tenancy agreement” allowing her to live in the mansion – reportedly worth US$54 million (S$73 million) – and are suing for damages.

The legal dispute threatens to drag Woods’ private life into the media spotlight once again, 14 years after the sex scandal which almost destroyed his career.

Woods’ squeaky clean image imploded in 2009 after revelations of multiple infidelities, leading to his divorce from his first wife Elin Nordegren in 2010.

Since that scandal, he has slowly rebuilt his career, winning the US Masters in 2019 to complete a fairy-tale comeback after years of injuries and multiple surgeries.

He faced a fresh setback in 2021 when he was involved in a serious car crash in California which again imperilled his playing career before making another comeback at the 2022 Masters.

Woods is not playing at this week’s Players Championship but hopes to play in April’s Masters in Augusta. AFP

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