Luke Combs is opening up about a recent lawsuit with his name attached. The singer said he felt shocked to wake up in the morning to find a news story that he sued a woman over $380 worth of tumblers.
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According to the country singer, he wasn’t aware of any lawsuit and was dismayed by the Florida woman’s despair. Combs spent the next couple of hours trying to figure out what had happened and how he could make it right.
Combs said he has a team that handles copyrights on his merchandise. But they go after major companies attempting to sell his merchandise, not small independent sellers. Florida native Nicol Harness’ story struck a chord with people. Speaking with News Channel 8, she said Combs’ team sued her over $380 worth of tumblers bearing the singer’s image. A judge ordered her to pay $250,000 in damages.
“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,” Combs said. “Apparently, this woman Nicol has somehow gotten wrapped into that, and that makes me absolutely sick to my stomach.” He added, “It makes me sick honestly that would happen, especially at the holidays. I can’t imagine being in her shoes.”
Luke Combs Makes Things Right
Harness said she began selling the homemade tumblers after attending one of Combs’ concerts earlier this year in Tampa. She used the funds to help pay her bills and pay for her medical needs. Harness has congestive heart failure. The lawsuit has put added pressure on her.
“It’s very stressful. I don’t have money to pay my bills,” Harness said. “I just want this resolved—I didn’t mean any harm to Luke Combs.”
Harness sold 18 tumblers. She felt shocked to find that Amazon froze her shop with all of her money. In response to the lawsuit, Harness took down the tumblers. She tried to get in touch with Combs to clear up the matter.
“I would tell him I’m sorry, like I said I didn’t mean any harm. I’m a supporter of Luke Combs. I respect him. This is not something I meant to go wrong like this. I just want to get back to my day to day life,” she said.
The country singer called her after hearing the story. Combs decided to double the amount of money that Harness had in her account to help her through this difficult time. Combs gave her a sum of $11,000 plus concert tickets to his family.
He also is creating his own tumbler to raise money for Harness. He said, “I’m going to make my own tumbler today. It’s going to go up today. All that money is going to go to Nicole and her family to try to help with her medical bills.”
[Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images]
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