A Florida judge ruled in favor of Tiger Woods late Wednesday night and said that the dispute between him and his former girlfriend Erica Herman must be resolved through arbitration, according to The New York Times.
The ruling, which was handed down late on Wednesday by Judge Elizabeth A. Metzger of the Circuit Court in Martin County, Florida, will keep the dispute private. Herman’s claims, Metzger said, were “implausibly pled.”
Woods and Herman dated for nearly six years before splitting last October. She frequently attended major events with him and his children, and lived in his Florida home with him.
Herman, in a court filing earlier this month obtained by Yahoo Sports, revealed several new details about their relationship — including the allegations that Woods ended their relationship through a "scheme."
Herman said she was told to pack a bag for a trip to the Bahamas, but when they arrived at the airport, Woods boarded the plane without her and referred Herman to his lawyer. The lawyer then allegedly ended the relationship, and informed Herman that she had been locked out of the house and couldn’t return home. Woods’ team instead said that once their relationship had ended, Herman was “advised that she was no longer welcome” at the home.
Among other things, Herman said Woods decided to “pursue a sexual relationship” with her when she was his employee, and then “forced her to sign an NDA about it or else be fired from her job.”
Herman filed two lawsuits against Woods. The first lawsuit, filed last fall, seeks $30 million in damages. The second, filed in March, was done in an attempt to be released from that nondisclosure agreement. Herman suggested allegations of sexual assault and sexual harassment, but didn’t offer public details on those charges. Under new federal rules, those allegations could have voided an NDA.
Woods filed a motion to dismiss Herman's lawsuit last week, and provided emails that allegedly showed Herman discussing the NDA in 2017. Herman allegedly wrote in those emails to Woods' chief financial officer that she doesn't "have any problems with what's in the [NDA] because I wouldn't go public or use anything I know to hurt him or the kids."
Now, per terms of that NDA, their dispute will be settled through private arbitration.
Woods is currently sidelined indefinitely from golf after he underwent surgery on his ankle last month. He withdrew from the Masters in April after what looked like a painful few days. The surgery, a subtalar fusion procedure, was to address a fracture he first sustained in the life-threatening car crash he was involved in in 2021. There is no timeline for his return, but he is likely done competing competitively until next year.