If easyJet do need to go for Government bail-out, the fact that shareholders will just have received £170m in dividends will weigh very heavily against them when the Treasury's day of reckoning comes. A stronger management team would have ignored the legal advice, done the right thing and used the court of public opinion to defend themselves against any shareholder who took issue with it.
And from the outside looking in, it appears as though the new COO is damaged beyond repair in a very short space of time. It's impossible to see how he can bounce back from such a serious reputational setback so early in his time in post.