Actually, it was because of strings pulled from above (the chain of command from Barky down to the HOA President and Insurance compnay) that the lawsuit was arranged so that the Martin/Fulton team could pay Crump, the Publicist, their staff, etc.
The reason that the HOA and Ins. Co. bent over so readily is that they were culpable in Trayvon Martin's death. They had security cameras and were a 'gated' community, meaning the police did not patrol the housing area streets.
Those cameras, whether due to vandalism, or lack of funding, or lack of care, were not working. Ergo... no security. Verdict guilty.
As proof of my claim, ever since the lawsuit settlement, the HOA has divested themselves of responsibility for 'security' and the SPD is now responsible for 'patrolling' the 'gated' community streets.
Why should not the clean hands doctrine have barred such a lawsuit? Is the argument that if the cameras had been working, the place might have gotten a reputation as a place where burglars get caught, and TM might consequently not have been trying to case the houses in the area and thus never had occasion to take offense at GZ's apparent suspicion of him? The only person whom cameras could have helped would have been GZ.