Yes indeed, TAUG did have a very good reason to settle! IMO...it was to avoid having Seth Shaw publicly "exposed" during Cowan's cross-examination!
Of course this "visibility" commenced, when the Cowan valuation experts exposed Shaw for his thrashing of the shareholders via the idiotic Pilus Energy acquisition! It only took TAUG two months, after Seth Shaw blew $2 million on Pilus, to decide the wastewater treatment process was going nowhere!