Lance Armstrong is going to face off against the U.S. federal government in court

On Monday, a U.S. federal judge ruled that the government’s US$100 million false-claims lawsuit against Lance Armstrong would proceed to trial. The Armstrong camp had requested the case be dismissed.

As first reported by U.S. Today, the decision was made by U.S. district judge Christopher Cooper who sided with the federal government after Armstrong’s lawyers asked Cooper to throw out the case with a summary judgment ruling.

The federal government is suing Amstrong on behalf of the U.S. Postal Service and is seeking $100 million in damages alleging Armstrong defrauded the U.S. Postal Service during its sponsorship of his team in the 1990s and early 2000s. USPS paid US$32.3 million in sponsorship dollars to the cycling team between 2000 and 2004. The government is arguing that it would not have provided sponsorship dollars to the team if it had known the athletes were in violation of its sponsorship contract by using banned substances and blood transfusions to cheat in races. Under the False Claims Act, the federal government which wants it’s money back could have the amount tripled with Armstrong on the hook for it all.

“Because the government has offered evidence that Armstrong withheld information about the team’s doping and use of (performance-enhancing drugs) and that the anti-doping provisions of the sponsorship agreements were material to USPS’s decision to continue the sponsorship and make payments under the agreements, the court must deny Armstrong’s motion for summary judgment on this issue,” Cooper wrote.

In 2010, Floyd Landis filed a qui tam lawsuit against Amstrong hoping to assist the federal government with the prosecution and then be eligible to receive part of the settlement. In 2013, the federal government intervened in the case after Armstrong admitted to doping during his career. In 2012, the USADA banned Amstrong for life. If the government’s case succeeds, Landis acting as the whistleblower stands to get a cut of the damages.

Armstrong’attorneys had argued in his defense saying that USPS suffered no damages and in fact received far more positive value from the $32.3 million in sponsorship money it paid. That argument will now be decided by a jury in trial because of Cooper’s ruling.

“The Court concludes that the monetary amount of the benefits USPS received is not sufficiently quantifiable to keep any reasonable juror from finding that the agency suffered a net loss on the sponsorship,” Cooper wrote in his decision, “especially if one considers the adverse effect on the Postal Service’s revenues and brand value that may have resulted from the negative publicity surrounding the subsequent investigations of Armstrong’s doping and his widely publicized confession. Determination of damages must therefore be left to a jury. Accordingly, the Court declines to grant Armstrong summary judgment on damages and will set the case for trial.”

Lance Armstrong was stripped of seven Tour de France victories, an Olympic medal and all his career results after the finding of the USADA reasoned decision.