I'll admit that I'm particularly touchy about bad people managers, but it really does seem like they just washed their hands of the problem without trying to really discern:

* Why this became such a big problem (and wasn't resolved earlier)

* How to prevent it from happening in the future

Because if one team can effectively silo themselves so well that problems like Rick are allowed to fester for multiple years, I don't have high hopes for the future for them.