Texas court rules against Lance Armstrong on bonus money

AUSTIN Texas (Reuters) - The Texas Supreme Court denied a request by lawyers for Lance Armstrong on Friday to block a sports insurance company from re-opening an arbitration agreement in which the firm paid $12 million in bonuses to the disgraced cyclist.

The court refused to stop the original arbitration panel from considering whether Dallas-based SCA Promotions should be able to recoup the millions it paid Armstrong during his Tour de France winning streak.

The bonus money from SCA is for three of Armstrong's seven Tour de France victories. The American cyclist was stripped of his titles and handed a lifetime ban in 2012, after a U.S. Anti-Doping investigation.

"SCA is pleased that it will finally get an opportunity to hold Mr. Armstrong accountable for his outrageous behaviour in a legal proceeding," SCA attorney Jeff Tillotson said.

Armstrong's lawyers have argued in court that an original settlement from 2006 over the bonus money was binding.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz and Lisa Maria Garza; editing by Gunna Dickson)