Avoid playing the game out of a fear of getting out, but also refrain from suing if you wind up in the friend zone.
A guy in Singapore sued a woman after she declined to date him, claiming that she had put him through “mental distress” by saying she only wanted to be friends.
According to Singapore news outlet the Straits Times, the man, who has been identified as K. Kawshigan, threatened to sue Nora Tan after she rejected him but at first she consented to attend counseling sessions with him, which she did for a year and a half.
When Tan — who met Kawshigan, a director at drone company D1 Racing, in 2016 — continued to reject his romantic advances and eventually cut contact with him, he filed the two lawsuits.
One suit was filed in a high court with a claim of $2.3 million, for allegedly causing “damage to his stellar reputation” and “trauma, depression and impacts” to his life. He filed a second suit with a magistrates’ court, asking for $16,700 in damages for breaching an agreement to improve their relationship after she stopped attending counseling sessions, according to court documents obtained by Channel News Asia.
The latter suit was later dismissed by deputy registrar Lewis Tan, who reportedly called the suit “manifestly groundless and without foundation” and said the court would not be an accessory to Kawshigan’s “calculated attempt to compel engagement” from Tan.
The court ruled that the two had been friendly after meeting in 2016, but their friendship broke down in 2020 after there was some miscommunication about the nature of their relationship — with Kawshigan believing it was romantic.
While Tan believed they were friends, Kawshigan considered her his “closest friend” and was appalled when she felt the need to step back from their social interactions and encouraged him to be “self-reliant.” This prompted him to send her a letter alleging “monetary damages arising from negligent infliction of emotional distress and possible defamation” and move forward with the lawsuit.
Tan began a harassment suit against Kawshigan in April last year and stopped attending counseling sessions. In response, Kawshigan continued to contact her, allegedly alluding to the potential suit in text messages. She cut off contact with him completely on May 19.
Kawshigan launched the high court lawsuit against Tan in July, claiming she had told third parties that he had harassed her, which caused damage to his “stellar reputation,” as well as “trauma, depression and impacts” to his life.
The now-rejected magistrates’ suit was filed in August.
The judgment, released on Saturday, said Tan, “after years of massaging the claimant’s unhappiness, has finally decided to stand up to his threats rather than cower and give in to his demands.”
The high court suit is set for a case conference on Feb. 9.