While I have no love lost for Eli Manning, I'm very apprehensive about this very erroneous notion that has been being pushed in recent years that a settlement is the same as guilt. Most cases settle in some form or fashion. It's far less risky than court.
A settlement is not "the same as guilt," but it does mean that the two sides conclude that there is a "number" at which they are better off not taking a chance on how a Judge or Jury might decide the case.
Settlements are generally sealed (with big penalties for violating the secrecy) because the terms usually would indicate which side felt more motivated to settle.
In this case, if Eli settled for less than the $60,000 or so that the plaintiffs were seeking, then he probably felt he had a good chance of winning. However, if he settled for more, plus the plaintiff's legal costs (which are probably a lot higher than the amount they sought) then he felt he had a weak case and the plaintiffs felt they would prevail. That's why we'll probably never know.
All the data suggest that Eli and/or the Giants probably coughed up a lot of cash. Why?
There were bad feelings on the part of the Memorabilia dealers because the Giants had essentially let them hang out to dry when Federal Prosecutors were going to bring criminal charges against them...charges which were quickly dropped when the dealers provided substantial proof of wrongdoing and deception by Equipment managers and others in the Giants' organization.
So, the dealers were out for revenge.
However, at first they got a judge (a Giants' Season Ticket holder, it turned out) who was unsympathetic and threw out several of the allegations, but had to let one or more stand because of the weight of the evidence. However, things turned in their favor when the Judge was replaced and it became apparent that the case would go not only go to trial, but also with an unbiased judge.
In the end, the dealers were only suing for around $60,000, but their main objective was to "out" the Giants in general and Eli in particular. It became a question of who would blink first. Everything we know suggests it was Eli, who had a lot more to lose than the dealers and who most likely ended up paying a lot more than he would have had to pay had he lost at trial. By his play on the field, he's already put in jeopardy his chances of being a First Ballot HOFER. Had he lost this case, he would have had to wait a long time.
