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Armstrong sues insurance company over withheld bonus

By The Associated Press
Published: Sep. 20, 2004

Lance Armstrong is suing an insurance company over a $5 million bonus supposed to have been given for winning the Tour de France, the Dallas Morning News reports.

The lawsuit - filed in Dallas Count on Tuesday by Armstrong and Tailwind Sports Inc., which owns the U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team - reportedly asked that SCA Promotions Inc. fulfill the contract.

The company told the newspaper that it is withholding payment until it has been given some reassurance that Armstrong has not used performance-enhancing drugs as alleged in the book "L.A. Confidential: The Secrets of Lance Armstrong."

“We're just asking the questions,” SCA attorney John Bandy told the newspaper on Wednesday.

Before this year's Tour de France, Armstrong failed in a legal attempt to force publisher La Martiniere to insert a denial of the allegations into the book.

The French-language book was written by David Walsh and Pierre Ballester, and relies in part on allegations by former Armstrong assistant Emma O'Reilly.

In it, she claims Armstrong once asked her to get rid of used syringes and to give him makeup to conceal needle marks on his right arm. She acknowledged that she didn't know what was in the syringes.

Armstrong has denounced the book's claims as "absolutely untrue."

–The Associated Press