Talk about an INSANE situation.
Florida resident, Nicol Harness, was ordered by a federal judge to pay Luke Combs a massive $250,000 after selling tumblers with the country star’s face and logo on them to Amazon.
Nicole told WFLA, a local news station in central Florida, that she got the idea to start selling the tumblers after she attended a Combs concert this past summer. The crazy part (and it may not even be the craziest of the story) is that Nicole says she only made $380 after selling 18 of them for $20 a piece.
Nicol says she wasn’t even aware that she was being sued until she could no longer access the money in her Amazon store – even then she was confused.
After repeatedly contacting Amazon and still not being able to find out what happened, Nicole says she then discovered an October email in her junk folder while she was in the hospital containing the lawsuit notice giving her 21 days to respond. At that point, it was too late.
Harness was sued in the state of Illinois, where the law now states that an email is sufficient and you no longer have to serve someone with a lawsuit in person.
Well, this morning Luke Combs says he woke up at 5AM and caught wind of the headlines and spent hours trying to figure out what was going on and how to make it right.
He posted a “lawsuit response” video to his social media accounts this morning admitting he was “completely unaware” of the situation. Luke says his manager contacted the news station that first broke the story and learned that his team does have a company who goes after big corporations, making Nicol’s situation oddly unique:
“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.
And apparently this woman, Nicole, has somehow gotten wrapped into that and it makes me absolutely sick to my stomach.”
Luke said he was able to contact Nicol and speak with her over the phone, assuring her he would do his best to help resolve the situation.
Not only did he send her double the amount that was locked in her Amazon storefront, Luke also announced he will be selling his own tumbler and donating 100% of the proceeds to Nicol:
“It’s gonna go up today..all of that money is gonna go to Nicole and her family to try to help with her medical bills. Hopefully that can help her out.
This is not something 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. I invited Nicole and her family out to a show this year so I could give her a hug and say sorry in person.”