Man sues friend for £1.9m after she refused to be his girlfriend

He claims she 'breached an agreement' to improve their relationship and damaged his 'stellar reputation' by turning him down.

A man has sued his female friend for £1.9million over "emotional trauma" after she refused to be his girlfriend.

K Kawshigan, a director at drone company D1 Racing, filed two lawsuits in Singapore against Nora Tan Shu Mei after she rejected him. He claims her actions damaged his "stellar reputation" and caused him to lose at least five business partnerships.

Tan has filed a counter-suit in which she is seeking compensation for the security features she had to install on her home to protect her from Kawshigan and future counselling sessions.

Tan installed a digital door viewer, an alarm sensor and a smart video doorbell to protect herself from Kawshigan, and is seeking about £900 in total to cover the costs of the equipment and future counselling. A magistrates' court judgement published on January 28 shows that Kawshigan filed two lawsuits after she told him that she only saw his as a friend. This caused their friendship of four years to break down. Kawshigan clearly didn't take kindly to be friendzoned, and according to Channel News Asia (CNA), he initially sued Tan for 22,000 Singapore dollars (£13,700) claiming she 'breached an agreement' to improve their relationship. This was thrown out by the magistrates who called it an abuse of process and refused to be part of his "calculated attempt to compel engagement" from Tan. Kawshigan has doubled down though, and is now suing Tan for 3 million Singapore dollars (£1.9m) in the country's High Court for a variety of damages he claims she caused him, including trauma he claims he suffered.

A Singapore High Court listing says the case is scheduled for February 9.

[caption id="attachment_376466" align="alignnone" width="842"] K Kawshigan, a director at drone company D1 Racing, filed two lawsuits in Singapore against Nora Tan Shu Mei after she rejected his advances following four years of friendship (AeroLion Technologies)[/caption] The pair first met in 2016, but their friendship fell apart when after they "became misaligned about how they saw their relationship." Tan said she told Kawshigan that she saw him only as a friend, but that he considered her his "closest friend". Tan claims they began to have arguments and differing opinions, which also damaged their relationship. As a result, she said she wished to reduce their social interactions.

Kawshigan has accused Ms Tan of defamatory conduct against him in June 2019 and December 2020.

He believes she made false allegations about him which were overheard by others, such as her claims that she felt harassed by his actions.

Mr Kawshigan also claims she defamed him by stating loudly: "He is unnecessarily serving court documents to me personally and he has not tried other ways available to him."

He said she was speaking close to a microphone in July 2022, and was therefore heard by other nearby people.

He claims Tan's actions caused damage to his "stellar reputation" and had resulted in "trauma" and "depression" over the past two years.

He also claims the ongoing disagreements have cost him five business partners, and that he now struggles to win new clients.

In her countersuit, Tan has denied large parts of Kawshigan's claims, according to CNA.

In October 2020, she says she found out Kawshigan appeared outside her home, saying that he had filed court documents against her.

Tan also says she was contacted by a woman claiming to be Kawshigan's councillor, and she participated in sessions with him until May 2021. Similarly, she agreed to take part in 'healing' sessions in November 2021, until May 2022.

Kawshigan's high court suit was filed when Tan said she did not want to speak to him any longer, which he reportedly said "forced him to escalate".

Tan says she was later contacted by a journalist about a high court case, having also been sent emails from people claiming to be Kawshigan's lawyers.

She also says Kawshigan turned up outside her house in July 2022 with a woman, and refused to leave when she told him to.

Much of this, she says, was intended to cause her harassment and distress, and to force her into communicating with him. Her lawyers are using the "fair dealing" defence over her supposedly defamatory comments, CNA said.