Tiger Woods’ ex-girlfriend has dropped her lawsuit attempting to nullify a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with the pro golfer, and has additionally rescinded her allegations of sexual harassment.
In March, Erica Herman, 39, attempted to have her NDA with Woods, 47, nullified due to the Speak Out Act, a piece of American legislation enacted in 2022 that declared an NDA cannot silence a victim of sexual abuse.
Herman alleged Woods had her sign the NDA after he pursued her and they began a sexual relationship while she was an employee at his South Florida restaurant, The Woods Jupiter. She claimed she would have been fired from her job if she did not sign the NDA.
Herman’s lawsuit against Woods was unsuccessful, leading her to appeal the verdict.
This month, Herman — who split from Woods in October 2022 — dropped the lawsuit against the athlete.
“In dismissing this appeal, Erica Herman states that she was never a victim of sexual harassment or sexual abuse at the hands of Tiger Woods or any of his agents and it is her position that she never asserted a claim for such,” the legal notice reads.
Woods and Herman have not commented publicly on the lawsuit.
In May, a judge in Florida ruled Herman did not provide evidence of any sexual misconduct and would have to abide by the existing NDA.
The judge said Herman “made vague and threadbare references to behaviours or actions she contends constitute sexual harassment” and called the allegations of harassment “implausibly pled.”
Herman earlier claimed she has no memory of ever signing the NDA.
Much of the original claims had to do with a larger US$30 million (over $40.4 million) tenancy lawsuit filed by Herman against Woods and his trust in October 2022. The lawsuit claimed the golfer violated an 11-year oral tenancy agreement and used “trickery” to lock Herman out of his beachfront home in Hobe Sound, Fla., where they both lived.
Woods denied any oral agreement was ever made. In March, his lawyer called Herman “a jilted ex-girlfriend who wants to publicly litigate specious claims in court, rather than honour her commitment to arbitrate disputes in a confidential arbitration proceeding.”
Herman dropped this lawsuit in July.
Woods and Herman were first romantically linked in 2017, then broke up in 2022.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.