Tiger Woods files for arbitration, argues Erica Herman never made claims of sexual assault in suit
Tiger Woods files for arbitration, arguing ex-girlfriend Erica Herman never made any claims of sexual assault or harassment in her $30m lawsuit over his Florida mansion
Tiger Woods has argued that ex-girlfriend Erica Herman has never asserted any claims of sexual assault or sexual harassment in the lawsuit over her right to live in his Florida mansion, pushing for the case to face arbitration.
Herman, 38, is suing a trust, she claims Woods, 47, controls, for $30million alleging that he tricked her into leaving the Florida mansion where they had lived together for six years following their breakup in October.
She claimed that she had an oral agreement with Woods’s trust – the Jupiter Island Irrevocable Homestead Trust – which is the legal owner of his mansion in Hobe Sound where the two lived together, that allowed her to live at the property for 11 years.
Woods has now filed a motion in the lawsuit in the 19th Judicial Circuit Court in Martin County, Florida for an order to compel arbitration over the matter.
In the latest filing obtained by DailyMail.com, the 15-time major winner’s attorneys argue that her claims are subject to Woods and Herman’s arbitration agreement as she has not made claims of sexual assault in this particular lawsuit, describing her as a ‘jilted ex-girlfriend.’
![Tiger Woods has pushed for ex-girlfriend Erica Herman's lawsuit over her right to live at his Florida property to face arbitration, arguing she never asserted any claims of sexual assault](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/13/13/68646573-0-image-a-2_1678713708344.jpg)
Tiger Woods has pushed for ex-girlfriend Erica Herman’s lawsuit over her right to live at his Florida property to face arbitration, arguing she never asserted any claims of sexual assault
![Woods's lawyers said that the golf star never had an oral or written tenancy agreement with Herman to live at his $48m Florida home and that she lived at the property as a 'guest'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/10/17/62652095-11836681-Herman_claims_she_was_tricked_to_leave_Woods_s_48_million_mansio-a-5_1678468217122.jpg)
Woods’s lawyers said that the golf star never had an oral or written tenancy agreement with Herman to live at his $48m Florida home and that she lived at the property as a ‘guest’
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/09/12/68509603-11836681-image-m-3_1678365627074.jpg)
Herman sued the Jupiter Island Irrevocable Homestead Trust, which owns the home in Hobe Sound she lived at with Woods for six years while they were together. Hobe Sound, which is on Jupiter Island, has been home to former presidents and A-listers
The golfing icon previously attempted to start arbitration proceedings on December 22 to establish that Herman has no right to live in his residence and is not entitled to monetary damages from him.
The previous motion to stay the claims and compel arbitration stated that Herman signed a non disclosure agreement which is included in the filing but is heavily redacted. It stated that any disputes should be overseen by an independent arbiter rather than through the courts.
However, proceedings were halted on January 26 after Herman alleged that she cannot be compelled to arbitrate as ‘her claims alleging breach of an oral tenancy agreement involve a “sexual harassment dispute.”‘
Herman is also taking Woods to court over the NDA she claims is being wrongfully forced upon her, citing the Speak Out Act and alleging in the bombshell lawsuit that he sexually abused her.
In the separate court filing, filed last week, to void the NDA, which she had signed with him on August 9 2017, Herman made the startling allegation that the 82-time winner on the PGA Tour had sexually abused her but went into no detail as to what the alleged abuse entailed.
However, in the latest filing in the dispute over her claimed tenancy agreement, Woods’s attorneys note that Herman has not asserted any claims for sexual assault or sexual harassment in this particular landlord-tenant action.
It notes that when completing the Civil Cover Sheet for her lawsuit over his Florida mansion, Herman checked the ‘No’ box for the question, ‘Does this case involve allegations of sexual abuse?’
‘She [Herman] 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,’ the document reads.
‘Ms. Herman’s bare reference to the statute, without any allegations to support its application to the facts of this case, is insufficient to relieve Ms. Herman from her contractual obligation to arbitrate. Rather, it is a transparent abuse of the judicial process that undermines the purpose of the federal statute and those whom the statute seeks to protect.
‘Accordingly, Defendant requests that this Court (i) review the allegations in Ms. Herman’s self-titled Complaint For Violation Of Florida Residential Landlord Tenant Act, (ii) determine that this action is not “a case which is filed under Federal, Tribal, or State law and relates to [a] sexual assault dispute or [a] sexual harassment dispute”; and (iii) order the parties to arbitrate the claims asserted in this action.’
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/13/14/68647613-11854079-image-a-26_1678717521901.jpg)
![Woods's attorneys note that Herman has not asserted any claims for sexual assault or sexual harassment in this particular landlord-tenant action](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/13/14/68647609-11854079-Woods_s_attorneys_note_that_Herman_has_not_asserted_any_claims_f-a-25_1678717512315.jpg)
Woods’s attorneys note that Herman has not asserted any claims for sexual assault or sexual harassment in this particular landlord-tenant action
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/13/14/68649261-11854079-image-a-29_1678717930094.jpg)
The motion notes that Herman checked the ‘No’ box for the question, ‘Does this case involve allegations of sexual abuse?’
![Woods and Herman were together for six years but broke up in October 2022](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/13/13/68561925-0-Woods_and_Herman_were_together_for_six_years_but_broke_up_in_Oct-a-5_1678713798655.jpg)
![Herman and Woods pictured before the Ryder Cup gala dinner in Paris in 2018](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/13/13/68646579-0-image-a-6_1678713798656.jpg)
Woods and Herman were together for six years but broke up in October 2022
![The couple were last seen together at the US Open in August 2022](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/08/16/68471263-11835715-Herman_and_Woods_haven_t_been_seen_together_since_the_US_Open_in-a-32_1678292364806.jpg)
The couple were last seen together at the US Open in August 2022
The motion therefore claims that Herman’s Complaint For Violation Of Florida Residential Landlord Tenant Act ‘does not contain any allegation remotely suggesting sexual harassment or sexual assault.’
The document also states that Herman’s complaint does not ‘contain any reference to a Federal, Tribal, or State law relating to sexual harassment or sexual assault,’ but instead ‘alleges that the Trust breached a purported oral tenancy agreement .’
Woods’s lawyers additionally claim that Herman is a not a victim of sexual assault or abuse that Congress intends to protect with the act she has cited but rather is ‘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.’
The latest filing comes days after the PGA Tour star also filed a motion to intervene, in which his lawyers wrote that Herman had sued the trust instead of Woods in order to avoid an agreement she had made with him to arbitrate all disputes.
Woods’ attorneys claim the trust owns ‘only a limited remainder interest’ in his home in Jupiter, Florida, and that Herman’s grievances are against Woods and not the trust.
In Herman’s lawsuit, filed in October, she said she should have been allowed to live in the home for another five years but Woods used ‘trickery’ after breaking up with her, leaving her suffering ‘severe’ emotional damages.
The complaint says that she provided ‘valuable services’ at Woods’s requests as part of the ‘oral tenancy agreement,’ which gave her the right to live at the property for a ‘certain duration of time,’ and she claims that she still had a right to live at the property for another five years.
Herman alleged that former World No. 1 Woods persuaded her to go on a short vacation and when she got to the airport, his representatives told her she had been locked out.
Herman also claimed that Woods’s representatives removed $40,000 of her money and made ‘scurrilous and defamatory allegations’ about how she got the money.
![In a separate lawsuit filed last week to void an NDA, Herman alleged that Woods sexually abused her but did not go into detail, just ticking the 'yes' box under the question 'Does this case involve allegations of sexual abuse?'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/09/12/68488125-11836681-Herman_goes_into_no_detail_as_to_what_the_alleged_abuse_entailed-m-2_1678365572040.jpg)
In a separate lawsuit filed last week to void an NDA, Herman alleged that Woods sexually abused her but did not go into detail, just ticking the ‘yes’ box under the question ‘Does this case involve allegations of sexual abuse?’
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/10/20/68565849-11845831-image-a-63_1678479123119.jpg)
![Herman had worked as general manager at the restaurant owned by her boyfriend at the Genesis Open at The Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, California](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/08/20/68478027-11836681-Couple_pictured_at_golf_tournament_in_Atlanta_Georgia_in_2018_ha-m-30_1678308985771.jpg)
Herman had worked as general manager at the restaurant owned by her boyfriend at the Genesis Open at The Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, California
![They were first spotted at the Presidents Cup in New Jersey in October 2017 (pictured)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/03/13/13/68646611-0-image-a-7_1678713837254.jpg)
They were first spotted at the Presidents Cup in New Jersey in October 2017 (pictured)
Woods’s lawyers disputed those claims last week, saying that he never negotiated a written or oral tenancy agreement with her and that she lived at the property as a ‘guest’ of the golfing icon.
They also claimed that Woods arranged for Herman to stay in a local luxury resort and gave her money to apply toward a new residence after their October breakup.
Woods and Herman were together for six years after being first spotted at the Presidents Cup in New Jersey in October 2017.
She had worked as general manager at the restaurant – a pop-up at the Genesis Open at The Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, California where Woods recently made his return to competitive golf for the first time since the British Open last July – owned by her boyfriend.
Woods’s lawyers previously stated that he broke things off on October 13, 2022 and that Herman ‘responded to the breakup by filing this lawsuit.’
They added that her claiming she wants to live in the property is ‘directly adverse’ to the interests of Woods and his children, who live at the home with the professional golfer.