...and even then, they had their lawyers respond to me...they didnt even do it themselves!!
Its important to note that the guys went through this before in '97 when MP threatened to quit then, so maybe enough was enough by this point. Hypothetically speaking, of course.
Or did they see MP's quitting as another control tactic, and did not want to fall for it? Why else quit the band if he didn't really want to lose it:
"....and then at the end of October, after 6 weeks of reflection, I was willing to do it just for the sake of not losing my own band . . ."