I think that is all true. He did his best to avoid the deposition and when suddenly forced into it, dropped the case. If I have it right, his witness list was him and Cohen - "my word vs yours" doesn't make for a legit sounding $500M suit. I think it was done purely for revenge reasons. He dragged Cohen through the process, caused significant legal expenses etc.
Wait what, a tank in a warzone got blown up? Who could have predicted something like this could have happened? Totally unexpected and I am sure no one thought this was possible before sending it in. It's almost like there is a cost to war.
Overall I think it is not a good idea to criticize people who were on the mountain for what they may or may not have done. It isn’t a normal environment and people are often not fully in their right minds. Decision-making is often poor or confused and people can be certain of things that are not correct. I don’t believe the history of rescue attempts on K2, especially from dangerous areas is good and has led to even bigger disasters.
Now if an expedition company did in fact know he was inexperienced and sent him to the upper section of one of the world’s most dangerous mountains improperly equipped. Anyone involved in that decision should face consequences. Experienced and well-equipped people up on K2 are already taking a huge risk so sending anyone who doesn’t meet that standard is negligent to an extreme.
And further as the article suggests there needs to be a foundation or insurance policy of some sort that will support the family of someone like this.
K2 is an incredibly dangerous mountain. The possibility of a rescue attempt would depend on many factors that we have no way to know. In these sorts of situations even other climbers nearby might have a complete different opinion. In many cases like this people are often not thinking correctly believing they saw something that wasn’t even there or just completely misperceived due to attitude or exhaustion or illness.
I don't think he was anyone's favorite. If I recall correctly he was going to lose in Indiana before T picked him up to use him.