Eric, are you suggesting that you lay yourself open to a claim if you write an aircraft unserviceable? I've never heard such cobblers. It is your duty to declare unserviceabilities as YOU are the operator, and the scenario described above is very definately in that category. If we're going down the road of imagining unlikely legal actions what about the dependants' claims against you when you allowed them to take away an aircraft that you believed was not airworthy? That one would be far more likely to succeed.
They'd have to prove negligence, incompetence or malicious intent in your scenario which is all but impossible, and the case would cost far, far more to bring than the loss incurred. Ain't gonna happen outside the movies or an overactive imagination.