Luke Combs ‘Sick To His Stomach’ After His Team Sued A Fan For $250K Right Before The Holidays — Goes Above & Beyond To Make It Right
Her post-concert craft took a unnerving left turn.
Ben Houdijk / Shutterstock; Krakenimages.com / Shutterstock; Nito100 / CanvaPro Nicol Harness, a passionate Luke Combs fan, was distraught after learning that her music idol was suing her for selling “counterfeit merchandise” online.
Suffering from heart failure, Harness makes a living through her online shop selling custom tumblers and clothing right from her home. Battling her illness hasn’t been easy and she recently spent several days in the hospital, racking up thousands in medical bills.
Reliant on her income from Amazon, when she went to pay her bills she realized she’d been locked out of her account. After days of emailing Amazon, she noticed a strange email in her Spam folder — a lawsuit notice from Luke Combs’ attorney.
Instead of focusing on her medical bills and health, she was forced to confront a much larger beast a copyright infringement lawsuit from one of the world’s biggest country music stars.
Luke Combs was ‘sick to his stomach’ after learning about the lawsuit from his team and made a generous gift to his fan as an apology.
The truth is, this mega country music star had no idea that he was suing Harness and was quick to humbly apologize and take action after the mistake from his team.
According to News Channel 8, a local Tampa Bay, Florida station, Harness made a whopping $380 from her Combs’ tumbler sales. Initially an avenue to show love to her favorite artist, the fan’s relatively small profits ended up turning her life upside down.
However, the lawsuit’s initial payout request of $250,000 wouldn’t be the last thing to shock Harness. Combs' response had several more surprises for the distraught woman.
Combs explained how Harness got wrongfully 'wrapped up' in a legal pursuit against corporate copyright violators.
“I’ve spent the last two hours trying to make this right,” Combs apologetically shared, “I was completely and utterly unaware of this.”
Seemingly annoyed, Combs said the company responsible for handling his legal matters was supposed to only go after “large corporations operating internationally” making millions on counterfeit merchandise.
Reaching out to the news station that originally covered the story, Combs was able to get Harness’ phone number and reached out to her. “Absolutely sick to [his] stomach,” Combs gave her a call in an attempt to make things right.
Expressing her shock at the initial lawsuit, Harness told the singer that she was incredibly “apologetic” over her choice to sell the tumblers, never meaning to do any harm to the artist by making the custom pieces.
“I can’t imagine being in her shoes,” Combs said, “especially right before the holidays.”
His sentiment towards the woman extended far beyond just verbal gratitude. Beyond an apology for his legal teams’ “unnecessary” pursuit, he presented her with an almost unbelievable holiday gift.
Combs ensured Harness had 'nothing to worry about’ over the holidays.
“No fan should ever get wrapped up in something like this,” Combs repeated apologetically. “She told me there’s $5,500 locked in her Amazon account,” and to mitigate the situation, he revealed he’s sending her $11,000 as an apology.
Photo: Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock
The money was not enough to apologize. Combs’ disgust over the lawsuit “all over a tumbler, apparently” sparked an idea for another Christmas gift. He’s also decided to create a tumbler of his own – promising to post it later today for his fans — where all profits would go directly to Harness.
Combs hoped that his efforts to mediate would give Harness a chance to catch up on medical bills, make up for time and money spent on the lawsuit, and give her family a great Christmas. In addition to his gifts, Combs wanted to apologize in person. “I invited Nicole and her family out to a show this year so that I could give her a hug and tell her I’m sorry.”
Although Harness was under the impression that she was acting in a completely legal and harmless way, many attorneys online use this as a warning.
While Combs’ gracious gift and kind heart towards the woman’s situation ended positively, many artists would not act in the same manner and copyright infringement cases tend to end poorly.
While Combs has not yet released the tumbler mug for donations, fans eagerly await the chance to help the family. “This is one of the most genuine responses I have ever seen from an artist,” one commenter wrote. “Thank you for changing this woman’s life forever — looking forward to buying a tumbler.”
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a news and entertainment writer at YourTango focusing on pop culture analysis and human interest stories.