I agree that happens a lot but this may not have been an instance of it: Fox might've genuinely liked their odds before the judge slammed them for lying about M

I agree that happens a lot but this may not have been an instance of it: Fox might've genuinely liked their odds before the judge slammed them for lying about Murdoch's role and ordering a special investigation. They might've re-evaluated based on the new disclosures they had to do and an angry judge who now would've assumed bad faith from them, and decided to bail.