What I took from Victoria's interview with Angela Staines is that Lucasfilm was of the opinion that she wanted to shake them down for $$$, and that's just not how they do business.
I went back and re-listened to the interview that Victoria did in 2017. I really think it all boils down to this chunk of the interviews: (
https://youtu.be/E8Yu1fKCDko&t=1605)
- Someone she knew saw the tiny little Galoob Action Fleet Tonnika figure in a shop
- Her husband said 'they should be paying you for that'
- Her husband's lawyer sent a letter to LFL
Then she (Angela) casually mentions that Christine (the other sister) had many interactions with LFL and they ALL knew about the letter at LFL and that was the one of the reasons there were no figures. Again she mentions "why not give us some royalties" in reference to making the figures.
I think her story softened over time down to "I just wanted a free figure", but the more you dig into this the more it sure seems like she wanted something and like the Nicks are saying, LFL isn't going to change their standard contract/approach for one background character (even if she was in a named role on the call sheet and not just an extra) for fear of the precedent it would set.
This fits well with Nick's story about Derryl saying LFL had a 'long memory'. She tried to shake them down and LFL isn't going to forget it apparently...