How can you sue someone on accident? Just ask Luke Combs.
The country singer took to TikTok on Wednesday to apologize to a fan for a serious misunderstanding.
A woman by the name of Nicol Harness, who is a huge Luke Combs fan, suffers from congestive heart failure.
Because of her condition, her only job is selling homemade tumblers and T-shirts through Amazon.
After Harness went to Combs’ concert in Tampa over the summer, she decided to start offering a tumbler themed around the singer in her online shop.
According to the fan, she bought artwork online and sold 18 tumblers for $20 each, making a total of $380.
Earlier this month, Nicol found out that Combs sued her in federal court in Illinois for selling counterfeit merchandise.
Not only that, the case is already closed, and the judge ordered each defendant–including more fans of Combs selling counterfeit merchandise–to pay $250,000 to the star.
“It’s very stressful. I don’t have money to pay my bills,” Harness said about the suit.
“I just want this resolved,” she continued. “I didn’t mean any harm to Luke Combs.”
I quit selling the tumbler. I pulled it down. I just don’t understand,” Nicol concluded.
Harness went on to say that she had no idea she had been sued until days after she returned from a hospital stay.
When she got home, she discovered that she had no access to the money she had earned through her Amazon storefront.
After not being able to find answers through Amazon, she discovered an email in her junk email folder.
It was the notice of the lawsuit in October from Comb’s attorney giving her 21 days to respond.
She never got that chance and says she was in the hospital when the email was delivered to her junk mail folder, sent to an email address she says she rarely uses.
After hearing about this situation, Combs has issued an apology for the lawsuit, which he says he “was completely and utterly unaware” of.
“It’s 7:27 a.m. here in Tennessee. I woke up at 5 a.m. to use the restroom, and the first thing I saw is this — a woman that’s being sued by me for $250,000,” the singer began in his TikTok.
In his video, Combs went on to explain the issue and revealed that he already spoke to Harness directly to make things right.
“We do have a company that goes after folks — supposedly large corporations operating internationally — that make millions and millions of dollars making counterfeit t-shirts,” Combs explained.
“…Things of that nature, running illegal businesses,” he continued. “And apparently this woman, Nicol, has somehow gotten wrapped into that.”
Luke said that Nicol being caught up in the lawsuit “makes me absolutely sick to my stomach.”
Combs added that his manager spoke to news channel WFLA before he was able to personally speak to the fan.
“She told me that she was absolutely shocked by this. I’m so apologetic,” he said.
“It makes me sick, honestly, that this would happen, especially at the holidays,” Combs continued. “I can’t imagine being in her shoes.”
Harness let the country singer know that $5,500 was being held in her Amazon account due to the lawsuit, and as a result, the performer decided to help her out financially.
“I’m gonna double that, send her $11,000 today just so she doesn’t have anything to worry about,” he said.
“She was never supposed to be involved in anything like this,” Combs continued. “No fan should ever have to be involved in anything like this.”
In an effort to further help Nicol, Combs also announced plans to start selling a similar tumbler on his website and donate the proceeds to “Nicol and her family to try to help with her medical bills.”