LOS ANGELES, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- A California judge has dismissed a fraud lawsuit against Lance Armstrong by people who charged they were deceived when they bought energy products he endorsed.
In Los Angeles, U.S. District Judge Beverly Reid O'Connell ruled Armstrong had engaged in "puffery" when he claimed FRS energy products were his "secret weapon" for success, USA Today reported Wednesday.
"The court finds that defendants' statements about a `secret weapon' constitute non-actionable puffery," O'Connell said.
The suit, filed last year by a group of FRS customers, had sought more than $5 million from the company and Armstrong. The customers said they would not have bought the products if they had known about his use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Armstrong was part-owner of FRS and the company's spokesman. His relationship with FRS helped the company increase sales 500 percent, but that ended when doping allegations against Armstrong surfaced in 2012.
