For all we know, the fact that this lawsuit was coming could have come out during the acquisition talks and could be some or all of the reason they were called

For all we know, the fact that this lawsuit was coming could have come out during the acquisition talks and could be some or all of the reason they were called off. If the acquisition had gone through, this suit - regardless of merit - would have been a huge PR black eye for Google. Similar anger/distrust has been leveled at them by small businesses regarding search results placement and AdWords.