Ann: Defamation Legal Proceedings by John Heugh , page-20

"could it be argued that (alleged) false statements by them resulted in a worse vote for him, and that he might have retained his board position if they hadn't made these (alleged) false statements?"

Exactly right Karll, as most shareholders would have taken the word of a board, IMO, before the word of one individual, JH.
So, remains to be seen if JH was set up, and what exactly was happening prior to "oil found".

How many was on the board, 5 ?, ... so for SH's, a difficult vote to have to make, with information at hand.

Hope it all comes out and isn't whitewashed/kept under the carpet.