
image source, Getty Images
A lawsuit filed by an ex-girlfriend of golf superstar Tiger Woods is asking a Florida judge to void a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) she signed with him.
Lawyers for Erica Herman, who began dating Mr Woods in 2017, are citing a new law that limits the scope of NDAs in sexual harassment and assault cases.
Ms. Herman’s lawsuit does not describe any allegation of harassment or abuse.
She argues in another court case that she owes around $30m (£25m) and was banned from a home she shared with Mr Woods.
Mark Steinberg, a representative for Mr Woods, 47, did not immediately respond to a BBC News request for comment on Wednesday.
The civil lawsuit challenging the NDA was filed Monday in Martin County, Florida, near where the couple had been living together.
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It says Herman’s agreement with Woods is “void and unenforceable” due to the passage of the Speak Out Act, which was signed by President Joe Biden in December 2022 and limits the enforceability of NDAs in cases of sexual assault or harassment.
Ms Herman, her lawyers say, is “currently unsure what other information about her own life she can discuss or with whom”.
Her lawyer Benjamin Hodas did not immediately respond to a BBC request for comment.
The couple’s breakup has not been formally announced. They have not been seen together in public since they attended the US Open tennis tournament in New York last August.
Ms Herman, 38, had previously worked at the 15-time major champion’s Florida restaurant, The Woods Jupiter.
A separate lawsuit she filed in October against a farm trust held by Mr Woods claims she was tricked into leaving the home they shared in order to lock her out.
“Specifically, by deception, the defendant’s agents convinced the plaintiff to pack a suitcase for a short vacation and, when she arrived at the airport, told her she had been locked out of her residence,” according to the court documents seen by the BBC.
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The legal action says Ms. Herman’s personal belongings were later removed from the home in Hobe Sound, Florida.
She also says $40,000 of her money was “misappropriated”, adding that representatives of the trust then made “sloppy and defamatory claims about how she obtained the money”.
Mrs Herman has been seen regularly by Mr Wood’s side for the past six years, including when he was recovering from a serious car accident which was initially feared to end his golfing career.