Tiger Woods's Ex-Girlfriend Erica Herman Files Appeal in Nondisclosure Agreement Case

Herman said she was a victim of sexual harassment, and she wants her case to be tried in court. A judge wrote in May that Herman's allegations were "vague and threadbare."

Erica Herman, Tiger Woods’s former girlfriend, filed a brief earlier this month in a Florida appeals court in attempt to reverse the court’s previous order for private arbitration and bring her lawsuit against the major champion back into the public eye. 

Herman—who worked at Woods’s restaurant in Jupiter, Florida—claims that the court wrongly ordered the legal dispute into private arbitration. In the filing, Herman alleges that Woods did not provide “admissible evidence” of a signed arbitration agreement and that as a victim of “sexual harassment” she should not be required to conduct the lawsuit in private. 

Erica Herman and Tiger Woods were together for five years.  :: Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports

“Congress recently passed the Ending of Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault And Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 ... precisely to prevent a plaintiff like Ms. Herman from being forced into arbitration by a former boss and sexual partner related to her employment and sexual relationship,” the brief read. 

When reached by Sports Illustrated, Woods's attorney declined to comment on Herman's appeal. 

In May, a Florida judge ruled that Herman must abide by the nondisclosure agreement she purportedly signed and resolve the lawsuit behind closed doors. Herman and her attorney have questioned whether she ever signed the NDA, but a judge called Herman’s claims “vague and threadbare.”

In July, Herman then dropped a separate lawsuit, in which she sought $30 million in damages from Woods’s estate. Herman initially claimed that Woods “deployed a scheme of trickery” to remove her from his home and end their relationship. 

Herman’s new brief—which seeks to revive her NDA dispute with Woods—was officially filed on Sept. 11.