Yes, Newbould is gone - he "retired" before a judicial review into his conduct was heard.
I believe Justice Hainey has taken over but I haven't seen anything official on this (not that I've looked).
It is true that I have seen cases where I believed they had zero chance of success go on to succeed.
In the calculations for what shareholders might get please remember these are USD - so I hope my worst case of 25 cents is nearer 32 cents Canadian and my "expected" figure is 47 cents Canadian. (But I don't expect VZ to ever pay up.)