Texas court denies Armstrong appeal

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AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Supreme Court on Friday denied Lance Armstrong’s bid to block a company’s
efforts to recover about $12 million in bonuses it paid him during his career, setting the former
cyclist on course to give sworn testimony next month about his performance-enhancing drug use.
Armstrong’s attorneys had asked the court to intervene and consider their claim that a private
arbitration panel should not reopen a 2006 private settlement between Armstrong and Dallas-based SCA
Promotions.
The Supreme Court denied the request without comment and the decision allows the arbitration case to
proceed. Armstrong and his longtime business manager Bill Stapleton have been subpoenaed to give sworn
videotaped testimony next month, with the full arbitration panel set to convene June 30.
SCA’s attempts to recover its money is one of just several cases against Armstrong that have left him
fighting to keep his personal fortune after admitting in 2013 that he used steroids and other
performance-enhancers to win the Tour de France seven times from 1999-2005.
Armstrong previously settled cases with the London-based Sunday Times and Nebraska-based Acceptance
Insurance. The biggest case is a whistleblower lawsuit in which the federal government wants to recover
more than $30 million the U.S. Postal Service paid to Armstrong’s teams. Potential penalties in the
federal case could be as high as $100 million.
Armstrong and SCA have engaged in legal battles over the bonuses for years.
The company first tried to prove Armstrong’s doping in a lawsuit in 2005. The case was moved into
arbitration before the company eventually settled and paid him despite producing some of the strongest
doping evidence against Armstrong at the time.
Armstrong insists that settlement remains legally binding. But SCA sued Armstrong in 2013, claiming he
committed fraud when he testified under oath eight years ago that he never used performance-enhancing
drugs.
An SCA spokesman declined comment Friday. Armstrong attorney Tim Herman did not immediately respond to a
request for comment.
Armstrong has lost at every level in state court to block SCA’s case from going back before the
arbitration panel, but he is not out of legal options. If the arbitration panel issues a ruling against
him, state law allows Armstrong to challenge that decision in court.
Armstrong has shown a recent willingness to settle before going under oath in the past. In the Acceptance
case, Armstrong gave written sworn testimony that identified others he said knew of his doping, but he
settled the case hours before he was scheduled to be questioned in person.
Armstrong has refused past efforts by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to get him to testify under oath, and
SCA may want to use his scheduled depositions to dig deeper into his doping past than he’s been willing
to go so far.

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