Lance Armstrong Loses Arbitration Dispute With Promotion Company

According to USA Today, Lance Armstrong will be ordered to pay $10 million after losing an arbitration dispute against the sports insurance firm that paid his Tour de France bonuses. SCA Promotions, who sued Armstrong for fraud in securing his Tour de France titles, asked a Texas Court on Monday to turn the arbitral panel’s 2-1 decision into a final judgment. Armstrong’s dispute with SCA began in 2004 when the company refused to pay Armstrong his bonus after winning the Tour de France, believing his win was aided by the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs. After Armstrong denied using performance enhancing drugs under oath in a 2005 arbitration, SCA was forced to settle and paid $7.5 million to the cyclist. After the United State Anti-Doping Agency stripped Armstrong of his Tour de France titles in 2012, SCA filed suit against him and was sent to arbitration. Armstrong attempted to prevent the arbitration on the basis that the 2005 settlement was final and not subject to further review for any reason, an argument rejected by the Texas Supreme Court. The dissenting panel member found this line of reasoning compelling and Armstrong may still appeal the panel’s award.

Jason Fixelle is the Sports Highlight Editor for the Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law and a current second year student at Harvard Law School (Class of 2016).