Lance Armstrong, disgraced seven-time Tour De France winner, experienced something unusual on Monday-a loss.
Armstrong had gone to court in an effort to get a lawsuit filed by a Nebraska-based insurance company called Acceptance Insurance Holdings dismissed. Acceptance Insurance Holdings was suing Armstrong to recoup $3 million in bonuses it gave the former cyclist from 1999 to 2001, who say he cheated to win those races and did not legally earn the money.
In January, Armstrong admitted to Oprah Winfrey on her show that he did indeed use steroids to succeed in his seven Tour De France titles, and has later claimed that it's just about impossible to emerge victorious without doing so.
His lawyers are saying the statute of limitations for Acceptance Insurance Holdings to get those bonuses back expired in 2011, though. Darlene Byrne, a Travis County, Texas judge denied Armstrong's request to have the lawsuit thrown out.
Acceptance Insurance Holdings' lawyer, Mark Kincaid, said that several witnesses will be questioned under oath, with the No. 1 witness being Armstrong. According to reports, Armstrong has been loath to do that with several suits piling up against him in the wake of his admission of steroid use.
The biggest of those other pending lawsuits involves the U.S. Justice Department, seeking up to $40 million from the former cyclist.
Robert Machen Jr., the attorney for the District of Columbia said in a statement in February, "Lance Armstrong and his cycling team took more than $30 million from the U.S. Postal Service based on their contractual promise to play fair and abide by the rules - including the rules against doping."
Armstrong's representation Robert Luskin responded in a statement saying, "Lance and his representatives worked constructively over these last weeks with federal lawyers to resolve this case fairly, but those talks failed because we disagree about whether the Postal Service was damaged."
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