Well, I'm sure it can.
I'm assuming you're not a lawyer and that Eric's agent did discuss with a lawyer, hence the specific language used. The fact he did say "will be", etc. wasn't by accident...
As has been stated about 135 times in this thread, this seems like it was an issue on both sides, so not sure how it's "So Billsy" or how the "franchise can't help but get out of it's own way." o_O