Tiger Woods' ex-girlfriend, Erica Herman, alleged in court documents that she was forced to sign a nondisclosure agreement or be fired from her job at his restaurant, according to Bob Harig of Sports Illustrated.
Herman, who said she dated Woods for five years, filed the update to her ongoing lawsuit in Martin County, Florida, on Friday. She said Woods pursued a sexual relationship with her while she was working at his restaurant, The Woods Jupiter in South Florida, which is when she says the five-time Masters champion told her to sign the nondisclosure agreement or be fired.
Herman initially filed a lawsuit in October against a trust for Woods' residence, saying she had been forced to leave the house despite an oral agreement with him to continue living in his home for another five years. She claimed $30 million in damages.
She then filed a lawsuit naming Woods as a defendant in March that argued the NDA she signed wasn't enforcable when there's evidence of sexual assault or harassment.
But legal experts told USA Today's Brent Schrotenboer that she would need to be more specific in her allegations of sexual harassment made in the original filing.
"The landlord made the availability of her housing conditional on her having sexual relationship with a co-tenant," her latest filing stated, per Schrotenboer. "That conduct amounts to sexual harassment under federal and Florida fair housing laws."
Herman's attorney, Benjamin Hobas, wrote in the filing, according to Harig:
"Tiger Woods, the internationally renowned athlete and one of the most powerful figures in global sports, decided to pursue a sexual relationship with his employee, then – according to him – forced her to sign an NDA about it or else be fired from her job. And, when he became disgruntled with their sexual relationship, he tricked her into leaving her home, locked her out, took her cash, pets, and personal possessions, and tried to strong-arm her into signing a different NDA."
Additionally, Herman says Woods tricked her into leaving his home by telling her to pack for a weekend trip to the Bahamas. When she arrived at the airport, she says Woods' lawyer told her she would not see him again, had been locked out of the house, could not return to the property and tried to get her to sign another nondisclosure agreement.
The filing said:
"Then, Mr. Woods's California lawyer, out of the blue, told her that she was not going anywhere, would never see Mr. Woods again, had been locked out of the house, and could not return. She would not even be able to see the children or her pets again. While still in the hangar, 'Ray Donovan (a fictional character) with a pen' proceeded to insult Ms. Herman, (advised) her she had no legal rights, and (tried) to force her to agree to a (different) non-disclosure and arbitration agreement."
Herman's filing said she did not sign that NDA, according to Harig.
In March, Woods responsed to Herman's allegations of sexual harassment.
"Ms. Herman's position is utterly meritless," Woods said in a filing obtained by TMZ Sports. "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."
The NDA agreement would require Herman to resolve any disputes via private arbitration instead of public court. However, Herman says she does not remember signing that agreement.
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