The 27-year-old local woman yesterday filed a lawsuit in Luwan District People's Court, seeking 15,000 yuan (US$1,807) for mental anguish from the Ecuadorian, who works as a technician for a Spain-based company in Shanghai.

The court hasn't accepted the case.

Yang was a beer saleswoman in restaurants until she recently resigned. She said she went to a bar on Maoming Road on the night of May 30 with a girlfriend, and there she met her former boyfriend with whom she said she had recently broken up. They quarreled upon seeing each other and she followed the man out of the bar when she claimed the 30-year-old Ecuadorian, a friend of the ex-boyfriend, stopped her to help the boyfriend get away from the place.

Yang said the Ecuadorian then suddenly pulled her dress down to her waist in public and left quickly.

When Yang and her friend took a taxi to leave the bar, too, and on the way, she saw the Ecuadorian again on Yongjia Road. Yang said she stopped to quarrel with him for his rudeness. The man pulled down her dress again, and Yang and her girlfriend were tripped several times by the man, she claimed.

During a check at a nearby hospital, Yang said an examination found she suffered a soft-tissue bruise.

"After the dispute, we called the man many times to negotiate for compensations, but he always avoided talking to us. To protect personal dignity, we have to bring him to the courtroom," said Pan Deng, Yang's attorney.

According to Pan, Yang and the Ecuadorian went to a local police station after the hassle that night, but failed to reach an agreement on settling the case. The man only agreed to pay the medical costs, but refused to pay any compensation, the attorney said.

(eastday.com June 14, 2003)