Luke Combs ‘Sick to My Stomach’ to Learn He Won $250K Judgment Against Convalescing Fan Who Made Tumblers; Says He Will Raise Funds for Her
Luke Combs took to social media Wednesday morning to say that he was “sick to my stomach” after waking up to learn that he had won a $250,000 judgment against a Florida woman who’d earned $380 selling 18 handmade drink tumblers with his likeness on them. The country superstar said he was “completely and utterly unaware” of the lawsuit in his name, or the judgment that was handed down in Illinois court, until his attention was directed to a television news interview with the crying woman.
Combs said he had just personally called the defendant in the lawsuit, Nicol Harness, and pledged to send her $11,000 to meet her immediate needs — double the $5,500 she said was locked up in her Amazon store account, now that all her profits are earmarked to go toward the $250,000 a judge said she owes Combs.
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Moreover, the singer said that he now plans to sell his own tumbler through his merch store, and will direct all the proceeds from that to item to helping with Harness’ medical bills.
“We do have a company that goes after folks — only, supposedly, large corporations operating internationally that make millions and millions of dollars — making counterfeit T-shirts, things of that nature, running illegal businesses,” Combs said in his video message on Instagram. “And apparently this woman, Nicol, has somehow gotten wrapped into that, and that makes me absolutely sick to my stomach.”
In the WFLA news report out of Tampa that grabbed Combs’ attention, a weeping Harness said that she had not even known she was being sued because the notice went to a spam folder in an AOL account she rarely uses. She only learned of the legal action against her when she got notice of the $250,000 fine, days upon returning home from a hospital stay for congestive heart failure.
“It’s very stressful. I don’t have money to pay my bills,” said Harness, who got the idea to make the Combs tumblers after attending his show in Tampa earlier this year, in her interview with WFLA. “I just want this resolved. I didn’t mean any harm to Luke Combs. I quit selling the tumbler. I pulled it down. I just don’t understand.” She said selling items through an Amazon storefront is her primary source of income, and that company cut off her access to that money after the judgment.
According to WFLA, even though lawsuits in Florida require a defendant to be served with paperwork in person, the law is different in Illinois, allowing attorneys to serve a person via email — apparently without any confirmation that the email was actually received. The $250,000 judgment has already been rendered, so it’s unclear how it might be reversed, if that is Combs’ wish.
Combs’ reps said his team has no further comment at this time beyond the singer’s video statement.
The judgment was reportedly rendered against multiple counterfeit sellers, of which Harness was just one, with each being slapped with the $250,000 fine.
His Instagram video, labeled “Lawsuit Response,” began: “What’s up guys? Luke here. It’s 7:27 a.m. here in Tennessee. I woke up at 5 a.m. to use the restroom and first thing I saw was this” — the WFLA news report ran in the background behind him, as he spoke — about “a woman that’s being sued by me for $250,000. I spent the last two hours trying to make this right, trying to figure out what’s going on, because I was completely and utterly unaware of this. … Firstly, my manager reached out to this news station that ran this piece to try to get some info…”
Combs said that he “was able to get Nicol’s phone number. I spoke to her this morning. She told me that, you know, she was absolutely shocked by this. I’m so apologetic. Talking to her… It makes me sick, honestly, that this would happen, especially at the holidays. I can’t imagine being in her shoes. She told me there’s $5,500 locked up in her Amazon account. I’m gonna double that, send her $11,000 today, just so she doesn’t have anything to worry about. She was never supposed to be involved in anything like this. No fan should ever have to be involved in anything like this.
“And she got in trouble, apparently, for making tumblers, so I’m gonna make my own tumbler that’s gonna go up today. I’ll keep you posted on that, but all that money is gonna go to Nicol and her family, to try to help with her medical bills. Hopefully that can help her out.
“Again, this is unbelievable. I was completely shocked when I saw this this morning. It makes me sick. This is not something that I would ever do. This is not the kind of person I am. I’m not greedy in any way, shape or form. Money is the last thing on my mind — I promise you guys that. And I invited Nicol and her family out to a show this year so I could give her a hug and say sorry in person.
Combs concluded his statement by saying that he “wanted to clear that up, man, because it makes me sick for anybody to be thinking that I’m this kind of person, because I’m the farthest thing from it. So, love you guys and I’ll keep you posted.”
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