Is Lance Armstrong using a 'shameless' defense in Postal Service bid to recover marketing bucks?
Lance Armstrong
in 2006. Featureflash
Shutterstock.com
Is cyclist Lance Armstrong offering a “shameless” legal defense in a motion to dismiss a $120 million whistleblower suit?
That’s the contention of a Bloomberg BusinessWeek editor, who says Armstrong’s claim is “part of the great American legal tradition of offering shameless defense arguments.” The suit against Armstrong, initially filed by one-time teammate Floyd Landis in 2010, contends Armstrong’s doping violated the contract with his former sponsor, the Postal Service. The Justice Department joined the suit in February, a month after Armstrong admitted using performance-enhancing drugs.
Bloomberg BusinessWeek describes Armstrong’s defense this way: He contends “the Postal Service should have known he was doping. You read that correctly. Armstrong contends that he was such a pathetic liar that his sponsors had to have seen through his false denials.”
Coverage by the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) details another argument by Armstrong’s lawyers, John Keker and Elliot Peters of Keker & Van Nest. They say Landis’ suit was filed too late to satisfy the six-year statute of limitations.
The lawyers also say that Landis should not be allowed to share in the recovery because he also took performance-enhancing drugs, Reuters reports.
Updated at 11:30 a.m. to include Reuters coverage.
