Florida woman discovers she owes $250K from lawsuit by singer Luke Combs over $380 she earned selling tumblers online

A woman whose only source of income was selling items online discovered that a judge had ruled against her and she owed $250,000 to country singer Luke Combs.

Nicol Harness was selling homemade tumblers and T-shirts from her home in Pinellas Park, Florida.

She told WFLA-TV that she sold only 18 tumblers with the likeness of the singer and made $380 off their sale.

The lawsuit was filed in an Illinois court against her and several others for selling counterfeit merchandise. The lawsuit was already settled before she found out about it, and she was ordered to pay $250,000.

“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. I quit selling the tumbler. I pulled it down. I just don’t understand.”

She found out something was wrong when she couldn't access the money in her Amazon account.

“I sent so many messages to Amazon asking for answers but couldn’t figure it out,” she explained.

Harness then found that an email notice about the lawsuit was sent to her account but went to the junk folder in October. It said that she would have to respond within 21 days, but she says she didn't see the email until it was too late.

In Florida, lawsuits are required to be delivered by hand, but Illinois just passed a new law that says lawsuits can be delivered through email.

Harness said she wanted to apologize to Combs.

“I would tell him I’m sorry, like I said I didn’t mean any harm," she said. "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.”

Combs responds

After making headlines, Harness was able to get a response from the performer.

Combs posted a message about the lawsuit to his Instagram account on Wednesday.

"I was completely and utterly unaware of this," Combs said in the video.

He went on to explain that the lawsuits were intended to go after large companies that make millions off of counterfeit merchandise, not individuals like Harness.

"That makes me absolutely sick to my stomach," he added. "It makes me sick, honestly, that this would happen, especially at the holidays, I can't imagine being in her shoes."

He said that he was able to obtain her phone number and he apologized to her personally. He also gave her a gift of $11,000, double the value of what was locked up in her Amazon account.

"She was never supposed to be involved in any of this, no fan should ever have to be involved in anything like this," he added.

He also said he would add a tumbler to his online shop and give the proceeds from sales to Harness to help with her medical bills. Thousands of fans praised him for his magnanimous response.

Here's a local news report about the lawsuit:

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