It wasn't even family...it was some "trustee" that started the lawsuit, looking for big $$$.
And yeah...glad to see that the court is saying simple chord progressions or a few notes of similarity, do not count as copyright infringement...or that just because there is ample access to some previous music, it doesn't make it more obvious that some intentional infringement is going to happen.
These last few months while doing my new studio construction...I've had the radio on all day and night while working...and I've heard many new songs that instantly reminded me of some older tune...either the chords or some of the melody, or even the style of production...but I never got the feeling they were copying them in any way. I think a lot of the lawsuits are just attempts at cashing in..."that beat sounds like my beat"...which is totally dumb, because if you dig deep enough, you find that it's all been used before in some way.
I'm glad the courts are throttling back some of that lawsuit nonsense...otherwise, everyone will be suing everyone!
I always go out of my way to avoid writing anything that has any obvious resemblance to some known music...but these days...some guy in Argentina may have a very similar song, and there is no way know that. When it comes to Pop/Rock/Country/R&B/etc...most of it is built on the foundations of what came before...it's pretty basic stuff when you get right down to it.