Man sues woman S$3m for friend-zoning him, says she caused him 'trauma, depression & damage to his stellar reputation'

SINGAPORE — In a report on Wednesday (Feb 1), a man named K. Kawshigan filed a couple of lawsuits amounting to S$3 million in the High Court back in 2022 against a woman named Ms Nora Tan after she said she only wanted to be friends with him.

Ms Tan allegedly caused him “trauma, depression and to his life” as well as “damage to his stellar reputation.”

A separate court claim for S$22,000 wherein Mr Kawshigan accused Ms Tan of breaching an agreement to improve their relationship was thrown out last month.

The two met in 2016 and had a friendly relationship, but his expectations exceeded hers.

In 2020, Ms Tan endeavoured to set boundaries, which affected Mr Kawshigan negatively, and he sent her a letter of demand threatening legal action for “monetary damages arising from negligent infliction of emotional distress and possible defamation.”

The two later entered into counselling, with Ms Tan hoping this would help Mr Kawshigan realize they could only be friends. After a year and a half, however, she stopped going, finding that these were “meaningless and futile.”

And by early last year, she began harassment proceedings against Mr Kawshigan.

Shortly afterwards, she stopped meeting with him altogether because he refused to respect her boundaries and demanded interaction from her.

By July last year, he began the High Court action against her, claiming damages of over S$3 million for her reportedly defamatory remarks as well as her negligent conduct. This included an “indefinite loss of potential investments” amounting to S$1.2 million.

On her part, Ms Tan claimed she was a victim of his harassment, and secured an expedited protection order against him, as well as filed her defence and counterclaim to the High Court action.

Mr Kawshigan’s S$3 million High Court claim is due to resume in court on Feb 9.

Netizens responded to Mr Kawshigan’s lawsuit by joking about “lawsuits” of their own.