Erica Herman, longtime girlfriend of Tiger Woods, files for nullification of NDA, citing laws protecting survivors of sexual assault
Erica Herman, the longtime girlfriend of Tiger Woods, filed a complaint on Monday for a declaratory ruling that a nondisclosure agreement she signed while working with Woods is invalid and unenforceable, citing laws meant to protect survivors of sexual assault. The complaint claims that a trust controlled by the golfer has asserted that the NDA is enforceable, and that Woods has commenced an arbitration against her based on it.
While neither party has publicly confirmed that their relationship, which lasted six years, has ended, the complaint obtained by CBS News reads, "The Plaintiff had a long relationship with the Defendant, both professionally and personally."
The couple had been living together in Florida, where the complaint was initially filed in Martin County court, but court documents still list their shared home as primary residences for both parties.
The NDA was signed in 2017, the year that Herman and Woods began dating. According to the complaint, Herman's complaint seeks to prove one or more of the following:
- That the NDA is neither valid nor enforceable;
- That if it is enforceable, the court should define the parameters of its enforceability;
- That the arbitration clause in the NDA is unenforceable in this case, and that any determination of its applicability should be determined by the court, not an arbitrator, under the federal Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act;
- The NDA isn't enforceable under the federal Speak Out Act.
Both the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 and the Speak Out Act were enacted to help protect survivors of sexual misconduct by invalidating arbitration agreements in the case of a lawsuit pertaining to sexual assault or harassment, and by prohibiting the enforceability of an NDA in the event of sexual misconduct, respectively.
Herman alleges she and Woods "have an actual, present, adverse, and antagonistic interest" in the subject matter of the complaint, but does not not explicitly accuse Woods of any wrongdoing.
CBS News has reached out to representatives for both Herman and Woods, but has yet to hear back.