Now THIS looks interesting! . . .

[BumbleBeeDave]

From CyclingNews.com . . .


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Armstrong & team suing for bonus

Lance Armstrong and Tailwind Sports, the company that owns the US Postal team, are suing an insurance company in an attempt to force the payment of Armstrong's $5 million bonus for winning the 2004 Tour de France, according to the Dallas Morning News.

The paper reports that in 2001 Tailwind Sports paid a $420,000 insurance premium to SCA Promotions Inc. for an insurance policy that would allow Tailwind to pay bonuses agreed with Armstrong if he won further Tours de France. SCA promotions claims to be the world's biggest provider of this sort of 'prize coverage' for competitions and incentive schemes.

SCA paid up to the tune of $1.5 million in 2002 when Armstrong won his fourth Tour and again in 2003 when his fifth Tour victory landed the Texan a $3 million bonus. But SCA is withholding the $5 million Armstrong is owed for his sixth consecutive Tour victory until it receives evidence that the allegations of use of illegal substances in David Walsh and Pierre Ballester's book L.A. Confidential: The Secrets of Lance Armstrong are untrue. According to Tailwind's suit, SCA has asked Armstrong and Tailwind to provide all of Armstrong's medical records and other records.

Meanwhile the $5 million is held in a custodial account until SCA determines whether Walsh and Ballester's allegations are untrue. "We're just asking the questions," SCA attorney John Bandy told the Dallas Morning News Wednesday. "We believe the contract says we have to pay only if the event of a valid claim."

Tailwind has responded by filing suit against SCA, saying that SCA does not have the right to question Armstrong's Tour victories as they have been ratified by cycling's authorities.

[Sandy]

It will be most interesting how this unfolds.

Sandy

[gasman]

Sounds to me like an insurance company doing it's best to not pay out a claim.Something that most of them do not want to do as it cost them money.The allegations may or may not be true and I do believe that drug use is present among pro bikers.
But, the win has been ratified by the UCI and drug use has not been pinned on LA, only heresy thus far. In the words of ,I think, Albert Einstein, "It is difficult to disprove that which does not exist."

[tch]

This seems like a real "try-to-get-out-of-paying-it" tactic. As gasman says, the victory has been certified by the TdF, the UCI, and all cycling organizations. I'm not even saying Lance does not/has not doped; all I am saying is that, until some cycling authority questions it, Lance is the winner.

Do we want insurance companies to question whether the Yankees REALLY beat the Red Sox last night because someone on the NY team might have taken juice as some point? While retroactively questioning results might be an interesting way for professional sports to regulate drug use, regrettably this regulation itself is up to the professional sport in question, not some insurance company.

[drbob]

Incredible, an insurance company not paying what they are contractually obligated to!! This certainly seems to be the standard in the medical industry. Denial of payment, denial of service, inappropriately low payment, etc... It is an industry-wide game of trying to hold onto "your" money as long as possible. Fortunately for Lance, since it involves a substantial amount of money, his lawyers will ultimately prevail.