What he said ↑
Especially EWL... I have, for many years, respected you as a learned and knowledgable poster on these forums (and continue to do so) - but was surprised to see you jumping to conclusions & a bit of diatrabe without knowing anything other than the 'facts' presented on this forum.
No one has presented any coal-face facts about the compensation & recovery options offered to the pax involved, nor about the decision making processes involved in this case - so any comments here are only pure speculation.