HHHHHMMMMMMM, I don't understand, If there were any stock options that were vested while those employees were employed, those shares were theirs and it does not need a court order to award them. However just like any other shares that people buy on the open market, those employees had to RELEASE.
Now if the shares are not vested yet then at the most, these employees will get either COOP shares from the disputed pool, or cash, but never escrow equity because the employees never signed release in 2012.
In another word, signing release is the key,
I think that you are making a mountain out of a molehill just like the underwriters theory.