This insane music-related lawsuit has a happy ending.
Nicol Harness is a country music fan from Florida suffering from congestive heart failure and a shortage of cash. Music is one of the things that keeps her going, especially the tunes of Luke Combs.
To make ends meet, Harness started designing and selling drinking glasses themed around Combs on Amazon. She sold $380 worth: 18 mugs at $20 per. Then the lawyers came calling, swooping down on a bunch of people for selling unauthorized music swag
Ubeknownst to Harness–she was in the hospital when an email came in and deposited into her junk file–she was accused of selling counterfeit merchandise. She was sued and taken to court in Illinois where she was fined US$250,000. She had no idea that anything was happening until she tried to withdraw funds from her Amazon account.
Where was a disabled woman going to get $250,000? She, undstandably, freaked out. A TV station in Tampa picked up the story and it went viral. Fortunately, the news made it to Luke Combs.
He had no idea that these lawyers were suing people on his behalf. I quote (via Digital Music News): “We do have a company that goes after folks — only, supposedly, large corporations operating internationally that make millions and million of dollars — making counterfeit t-shirts, things of that nature, running illegal business. Apparently this woman, Nicol, has somehow gotten wrapped into that, and that makes me absolutely sick to my stomach.”
Combs going to send Harness US$11,000 to make up for all the confusion and anxiety.
