Tiger Woods has argued that his ex-girlfriend Erica Herman has never brought any claims of sexual assault or sexual harassment in the lawsuit over his right to live in his Florida mansion, pushing for the case to face arbitration.
Herman, 38, is suing a trust, claims Woods, 47, controls, for $30 million claiming that he tricked her into leaving the Florida mansion where they had lived together for six years after their breakup in October.
He claimed he had a verbal agreement with Woods’ trust, the Jupiter Island Homestead Irrevocable Trust, which is the legal owner of his mansion in Hobe Sound where the two lived together, that allowed him to live on the property for 11 years.
Woods has now filed a motion in the lawsuit in the 19th Judicial Circuit Court in Martin County, Florida, seeking an order binding arbitration on the matter.
In the latest submission obtained by DailyMail.com, lawyers for the 15-time major winner claim that Herman is not a victim of sexual abuse but rather a ‘dumped ex-girlfriend’.
Tiger Woods has pushed for ex-girlfriend Erica Herman’s lawsuit over her right to live on his Florida property to face arbitration, arguing that she never asserted any claims of sexual assault.
Woods’ attorneys said the golf star never had an oral or written lease with Herman to live in his $48 million Florida home and that she lived on the property as a “guest.”
Herman is suing the Jupiter Island Irrevocable Homestead Trust, which owns the Hobe Sound home in which she lived with Woods for six years while they were together. Hobe Sound, which is located on the island of Jupiter, has been home to former presidents and personalities
They further argue that her claims are subject to Woods and Herman’s arbitration agreement, as she has not brought sexual assault claims in this particular lawsuit.
The golf icon previously attempted to initiate arbitration proceedings on December 22 to establish that Herman has no right to live at his residence and no right to receive money damages from him.
The earlier motion to stay the claims and compel arbitration indicated that Herman signed a confidentiality agreement that is included in the filing but is heavily redacted. He stated that any dispute should be overseen by an independent arbitrator instead of the courts.
However, the proceedings were halted on January 26 after Herman argued that she cannot be compelled to arbitrate because “her allegations of breach of an oral lease involve a ‘sexual harassment dispute’.”
hErman is also taking Woods to court over the NDA that she says is unfairly imposed on 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 PGA Tour winner had sexually abused her, but did not go into details. as to what the alleged abuse of her entailed.
However, in the most recent filing of the contested lease dispute, Woods’ attorneys note that Herman has not brought any sexual assault or sexual harassment claims in this particular landlord-tenant action.
It notes that in completing the Civil Cover Sheet for his Florida mansion lawsuit, Herman checked the ‘No’ box for the question, ‘Does this case involve allegations of sexual abuse?’
“She (Herman) has never brought any claim for sexual assault or sexual harassment, she does not in this landlord-tenant action, and if she is truthful, she never can,” the document says.
‘EM. Herman’s mere reference to the statute, without any argument to support its application to the facts of this case, is not sufficient to relieve Ms. Herman of 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 Complaint of the same name for violation of the Florida Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, (ii) determine that this action is not “a case that is brought under Federal, Tribal, or State law and relates to (a) a sexual assault dispute or (a) a sexual harassment dispute”; and (iii) order the parties to arbitrate the claims raised in this action .’
Woods’ attorneys note that Herman has not brought any sexual assault or sexual harassment claims in this particular landlord-tenant action.
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.
The pair were last seen together at the US Open in August 2022.
Therefore, the motion asserts that Herman’s Complaint alleging violation of the Florida Residential Landlord and Tenant Act ‘does not contain any allegations remotely suggestive of sexual harassment or sexual assault.’
The document also states that Herman’s complaint does not “contain any reference to any federal, tribal, or state law relating to sexual harassment or sexual assault,” but rather “alleges that the Trust violated an alleged oral lease.”
Woods’ attorneys further assert that Herman is not a victim of sexual assault or abuse that Congress intends to protect with the act she cited, but rather is “a jilted ex-girlfriend who wants to publicly litigate misleading claims in court, in place to 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 The lawyers wrote that Herman had sued the trust in Woods’ stead to avoid an agreement she had made with him to arbitrate all disputes.
Woods’ attorneys say the trust has “only a limited remaining interest” in his home in Jupiter, Florida, and that Herman’s complaints 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 house for another five years, but Woods used “deceit” after breaking up with her, leaving her suffering “severe” emotional damage.
The complaint says that she provided “valuable services” at Woods’ request as part of the “oral lease,” which gave her the right to live on the property for a “certain period of time,” and claims she still had a right to live on the property for another five years.
Herman alleged that former world No. 1 Woods convinced her to go on vacation and when she arrived at the airport, she was told by her representatives that she had been blocked.
Herman also claimed that representatives for Woods took $40,000 of his money and made “defamatory and libelous allegations” about how he obtained the money.
In a separate lawsuit filed last week to quash an NDA, Herman alleged that Woods sexually abused her, but she did not elaborate, simply checking the ‘yes’ box under the question ‘Does this case involve allegations of sexual abuse?’
Herman had worked as the 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 seen at the Presidents Cup in New Jersey in October 2017 (pictured)
Woods’ lawyers disputed those claims last week, saying he never negotiated a written or oral lease with her and that she lived on the property as a “guest” of the golf icon.
They also claimed that Woods arranged for Herman to stay at a local luxury resort and gave him money to apply for a new residence after their breakup in October.
Woods and Herman were together for six years after they were first seen at the Presidents Cup in New Jersey in October 2017.
She had worked as general manager at the restaurant, a Genesis Open pop-up at The Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles, California, where Woods recently returned to competitive golf for the first time since the British Open last July, owned by his boyfriend.
Woods’ 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 his assertion that he wants to live at the property is “directly adverse” to the interests of Woods and his children, who live in the house with the professional golfer.
