Lance Armstrong Ethical Issues
Should Lance Armstrong be allowed to keep from being sued and should sports heroes be held to a different level of ethics? Why or why not?
There are two issues addressed here. One is whether to believe that sports figures should be held to a different ethical standard and two, whether others should have the right to sue Lance Armstrong.
Sports professionals should adhere to the ethical standards of business and the governing body for the sport in which they participate. Professional sports is big business and professional athletes should be held to the same ethical standards as corporations. Thus, they should become educated on their primary and secondary stakeholders and how those stakeholders will hold them accountable to ethical standards.
As for whether others have the right to sue Lance Armstrong is debatable on who is seeking to sue. Two current law suits can help put this point into perspective.
Law suit one: A British newspaper is now suing Lance Armstrong for $1.5 million after it settled a libel case over doping allegations and was forced to pay Armstrong $300,000 pounds in 2006. The paper had reprinted claims from a book that Armstrong took performance-enhancing drugs. Lance sued and won. Now the paper is demanding a return of the settlement payment plus interest, as well as its cost in defending the case. – Should they seek damages – absolutely.
Law suit two: Rob Stutzman and Jonathan Wheeler are suing Lance Armstrong and his publisher in a class action law suit for what they refer to as “peddling fiction as fact.” They state that they want their money back. The lawsuit does not specify how much Stutzman and Wheeler are seeking. However, it does ask for “any statutorily permissible damages, attorneys’ fees, expenses and costs,” more than the cost of the book. Should they seek damages – hardly. Should they be allowed to give Lance a little taste of his own medicine, sure.
There are two issues addressed here. One is whether to believe that sports figures should be held to a different ethical standard and two, whether others should have the right to sue Lance Armstrong.
Sports professionals should adhere to the ethical standards of business and the governing body for the sport in which they participate. Professional sports is big business and professional athletes should be held to the same ethical standards as corporations. Thus, they should become educated on their primary and secondary stakeholders and how those stakeholders will hold them accountable to ethical standards.
As for whether others have the right to sue Lance Armstrong is debatable on who is seeking to sue. Two current law suits can help put this point into perspective.
Law suit one: A British newspaper is now suing Lance Armstrong for $1.5 million after it settled a libel case over doping allegations and was forced to pay Armstrong $300,000 pounds in 2006. The paper had reprinted claims from a book that Armstrong took performance-enhancing drugs. Lance sued and won. Now the paper is demanding a return of the settlement payment plus interest, as well as its cost in defending the case. – Should they seek damages – absolutely.
Law suit two: Rob Stutzman and Jonathan Wheeler are suing Lance Armstrong and his publisher in a class action law suit for what they refer to as “peddling fiction as fact.” They state that they want their money back. The lawsuit does not specify how much Stutzman and Wheeler are seeking. However, it does ask for “any statutorily permissible damages, attorneys’ fees, expenses and costs,” more than the cost of the book. Should they seek damages – hardly. Should they be allowed to give Lance a little taste of his own medicine, sure.