A Michigan woman is suing her long-distance love saying he ended their relationship for another woman. How much is a broken heart worth? Apparently, $8,368.88.
The Seattle Times reports that Cheryl Gray, a 50-year-old single mother, met Wylie Iwan, a 35-year-old Applebee’s employee, through Facebook when the two started regularly playing Mafia Wars on the same team. Soon the two were Facebook messaging one another, as well as emailing, calling and texting. They even created a private Facebook page that just the two of them could access and see.
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Though Iwan lived in Kennewick, Washington, Gray reportedly said he would tell her that she was his “best friend” and that he was “falling in love.” She also said they’d spend up to nine hours a day online messaging one another. She would send him gifts for Christmas and Valentine’s Day and had even planned a trip to visit him in April. But right before the visit, after she’d already bought a plane ticket and booked a hotel, Iwan told her that he’d met another woman in a bar. For his part, Iwan says he was upfront with her and still encouraged her to come visit, but “as my friend.” Ouch.
Then things got really nasty; Gray hired a lawyer and filed a civil lawsuit worth $8,368.88 against Iwan for “misrepresentation, promissory estoppel, defamation of character and intentional infliction of emotional distress.”
Breakups are the worst, so NewsFeed can all sympathize with Gray’s situation here (except maybe the Mafia Wars part — that game is really the worst) but does this lawsuit have a leg to stand on? While this is definitely not the first time someone’s been been taken to court for matters of the heart, we don’t want a legal system that allows you to sue for something like being dumped. Or do we? (If you’re quiet enough you might just be able to hear the sound of millions of spurned lovers calling their lawyers right this instant.)
Megan Gibson is a reporter at TIME. Find her on Twitter at @MeganJGibson. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.
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