Lance Armstrong: US insurance firm ready to file $12m lawsuit

A Texan company plans to file a lawsuit next week to recoup $12m from disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong.

SCA Promotions insured bonuses paid to Armstrong when he claimed his fourth, fifth and sixth Tour de France wins.

The American has admitted using performance-enhancing drugs for all seven of his Tour de France wins.

"We will likely file that lawsuit as soon as next week unless we get a satisfactory response from Armstrong's camp," SCA lawyer Jeff Tillotson said.

Armstrong took the company to an arbitration hearing in Dallas in 2005 and won, because the contract between the parties stipulated the insurance money would be payable if Armstrong was the "official winner" of the Tour.

There have been suggestions that Armstrong could also be charged with perjury for lying under oath in 2005 but Tillotson admits this is unlikely to happen.
"In the US, if you lie under oath in a legal proceeding there are two possible penalties that can happen to you," he explained.

"One is criminal - you can be prosecuted by the authorities for lying under oath. That carries with it though a Statute of Limitations and it must be brought within a certain period of time of your lie.

"It's most likely the limitations have run, so Mr Armstrong could not be criminally prosecuted for perjury.

"But there is a second penalty which is in the civil lawsuit, (which) my client is pursuing. Mr Armstrong can be held accountable for that conduct."