Corn snake sale - Is there a case to answer?

[EB64]

My daughter's boyfriend sold four corn snakes to someone a few months ago. The corn snakes where purchased from someone else some weeks prior to this sale. It was the intention to breed from these snakes, but this changed due to the amount of snakes already owned, so they were put up for sale.
The person that bought them said that they knew how to look after and care for them, so the deal was done. The person that bought the snakes did not take the vivarium that they were in as he had one to put them in.
There has been recent communication from the purchaser stating that the snakes that were sold to him were ill with a respiratory illness, and states that the snakes were knowingly sold to them ill. This would not have been the case. I, myself saw and handled the snakes, and there was no evidence of any illness, which would have been a coughing type noise, frothing around the mouth, the snake holding its head up with its mouth open - there were no signs of this.
The purchaser wants to be refunded the vet bills (which are not cheap).
He is getting quite nasty about the whole thing. He is claiming that the vet said they had this infection for some time - no evidence to back up this statement.
I have researched this infection (RI) from several avenues, one of which is a reptile forum - people who know all there is to know about snakes – experts, and everything that I have read up matches what they have said.
The infection is contagious and would easily be passed to other snakes in a collection; the main point for this infection is down to poor animal husbandry.
The remaining 12 snakes in the collection are healthy. The vivarium that was sold with a different snake is fine, so it is our opinion that the infection must have come from somewhere else, possibly the vivarium that the snakes were put into, or down to the limited knowledge of the new owner, although this has not been verbalised in order to avoid antagonising the man who is making this claim.
The problem now is that there are threats of court; he has a relative that is a lawyer and will do the legal work for free. Does my daughter’s boyfriend have anything to worry about?

[joko]

he may well have done it deliberately - he had 4 ill snakes and couldnt afford treatment, so he buys 4 more and 'swaps' them.

ask him 'innocently' if he has other corn snakes - question his ability to look after the, prick at his pride and see if he admits to already having others.

have you pics of your snakes? good enough to identify, not froth at the mouth and also to check if these are actually your ones?
i assume the markings are more or less identical but there may be a few bits that show its a different snake.

otherwise - id say its like a car - the onus is on the buyer to be sure the item is in good condition - he should have had a vets check done - caveat emptor.

i would also write out what you have said here - with relative weblinks etc proving your point - this shows you know your stuff and may make him think twice before taking it further.

but if theres any chance that they were ill from your care them perhaps a gesture payment of goodwill...?

[lcg]

let him spout. see if he has the balls to take him to court - i doubt it very much x

[EDDIE51]

As with anything else it a private sale so nothing can be done 'let the buyer beware'' applies here. Just ignore him no court will even entertain the case, he is trying it on.