Lance Armstrong asks U.S. judge for summary judgement in lawsuit

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong has asked a U.S. judge to decide a more than $100 million (68.4 million pounds) lawsuit against him by the federal government without holding a jury trial.

Lance Armstrong asks U.S. judge for summary judgement in lawsuit

(Reuters)





The motion seeking a summary judgement in Washington's U.S. District Court is part of a 2013 U.S. government lawsuit against Armstrong. The suit argues that Armstrong's team breached its Postal Service sponsorship contract by doping and made false statements to continue payment.

Armstrong's lawyer, Elliot Peters, said the Postal Service had gotten a "windfall" through sponsoring the team and Armstrong had settled every legitimate claim against him.

"This lawsuit is pure grandstanding and hypocrisy. We hope and believe the Court will see that and be willing to pull the plug," Peters said in a statement.

The 59-page motion was filed on Wednesday. The government also filed a motion for partial summary judgement on Wednesday.

Armstrong's lawyers argue that he did not have a direct contract with the Postal Service. The sponsorship contracts were with Tailwind Sports, the company that owned the cycling team before dissolving in 2007.

Court papers submitted by Armstrong's lawyers in 2014 show the government has been seeking more than $105 million from Armstrong, Tailwind and former team manager Johan Bruyneel. That sum reflects triple damages under the False Claims Act.

Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France victories and banned for life from racing in 2012 by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency after it accused him in a report of engineering one of the most sophisticated doping schemes in sports.





(Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Alistair Bell)


Share
2 min read

Published

Source: Reuters


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world