California Credit Card Lawsuit

[zxpwr350]

My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: California

Hi Folks, new member here from Cali; Alameda Country to be exact. Been a lurking for a while, this site has been a great resource for my case.

About 2 months ago I received a summon for a credit card debt that I had stopped paying. I was being sued by the CC company themselves. I don't want to get into the details on why I stopped paying, everyone have their issues.

Here is the summary of the things that happened.
-Got a summon
-Filed an answer
-Denied allegations
-Offered settlement (while denying allegetions)
-No response on settlement offer
-Got a notice to appear in court for case management on 7/15


Fast forward today, I got a letter from a new firm saying they are taking over the case. Also inculed is a signed form for substitution of attorney filed to the court. Now, this new firm, according to my research, is a collection, debt settlement debt consolidation, etc. firm. They had asked for me to respond within 30 days to admit or deny the debt (which I thought had already done so on my response to complaint) otherwise the debt will be considered valid.
I plan to respond to their request and again deny the debt.

Since the new firm is now considered a third party (correct me if I am wrong) and I am not sure if the CC company had sold the debt or just assigned the rest of the proceedings to the new firm, can I ask for debt validation?

Or can I go ahead and move on with the discovery?
How do I enter discovery phase? Do I just go ahead and send the request for production of docs, admissions and interrogatories?

I'm sorry for all the questions but I am just stumped right now. Somehow I just cannot find answers for them and I'm hoping this community will be able to help.

Thank you very much in advance!

[Mr. Knowitall]

It sounds like the firm gave you a boilerplate FDCPA notice along with their correspondence. Such a notice won't have any impact on the ongoing litigation.

A change of attorney does not change the identity of the plaintiff. I don't see why it would affect your litigation strategy.

For the rules of discovery, go to Title 4 of the Code of Civil Procedure.