This may be long but I beg you to stick with it as I really need some advice from people who know what they're talking about. Okay so, a month or so ago I put my website up for sale. Included were legitimate screenshots of Adsense earnings and the like, along with a heap of information regarding the website. The buyer proceeded to bid and subsequently won the auction for just over $2000. Then it came to Escrow.com. We agreed to our terms and set an inspection period of 7 days, which in my eyes was quite lengthy but I was willing to wait. Just under 2 weeks later, lots of 'hold on I'm not finished inspecting' complaints, and many questions from the buyer, all of which were answered, he decided to complete the escrow and release the funds. Today, almost 2 weeks after the sale, he sends me an extremely abusive email saying that I've 'sabotaged' his website and that he wasn't aware that other admins were still working on the website. Now before you think that I pulled the wool over his eyes, please be aware that I specifically told him that one other admin still worked there and that she was willing to leave her position if he so wished. He didn't respond to my proposal and I figured he was happy to let her stay. He's now threatening legal action, all of which are completely without evidence- but I'm nervous as legal action is never a nice thing , regardless of whether it's pointless or not. He claims that I kept things from him, but I never intentionally did such a thing, and surely with his extended inspection period it's his fault for not questioning more? I don't know, I'm just scared and need some help. Thank you and please ask any questions if you need clarification on things.
Assuming what you have posted is an accurate account of the situation, I wouldn't worry at all. 99% of people who threaten a lawsuit never follow through. The buyer would be looking at spending a huge sum of money to actually sue you and take you to court (far more than they paid for the site) and unless you had a prevailing party agreement, he wouldn't likely recover any of their legal fees. In short, it would cost him far more to sue you that completely write-off the cost of the site. In addition, he has to prove damages (assuming you did something wrong) and I don't see how another admin having access to the site cost him money. All he needs to do is remove their access permissions.
I genuinely didn't touch the site, and he'd need to somehow prove that I did (hypothetically) access the admin panel, with site IP logs, but as I owned the site for 2 years previous, there is no WAY he can have such logs as the script isn't coded for such things. Should I be storing his threatening and abusive emails? Would they work in my favor IF for some mad reason he really does take me to court?
If you didn't access the site, then there is no need to speculate if he could prove it (you can do it without the script logs) - but you can't prove something that didn't happen. I would certainly save everything - but I don't think that just because you think they are "abusive" it would give you an advantage in a court case against you.
Why would you sell the guy a site, with someone signing into his administration panel, that is ignorant as hell, and very unprofessional, I'd be pissed too. "By the the way, other people login into your admins panel"
I don't think you understand. The fact is I told him beforehand that another admin was working with the website, he chose to ignore it. It doesn't take a genius to delete all the other admin logins BEFORE completing the escrow, especially someone who claimed he has run many similar sites.