Legal advice

The best advice is to talk to a legal professional in the field.

It must be a fairly sizeable amount because anything under a certain point they write off, send you a 1099C, then sell the debt for pennies on the dollar to a company that will try to harass you for a long time to pay it off and will even reduce the amount you owe because they bought the debt for very cheap. It's a lucrative business actually.

Also, they have a timeframe that, if exceeded, they can no longer seek a judgment against you and any negative reports will be off of you credit report in 10 years. If you have any activity, like paying on the debt, each of those timeframes can reset.

I am not an attorney, but I slept with your mom and a Holiday Inn Express last night so take it FWIW because I may be off on some of that.

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options

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(1) Ch. 7 Bankruptcy. Upside: will shut down the lawsuit and wipe out all your unsecured debts. Downside: stays on your credit for 10 years and may not be a good option if your total unsecured debt is not that high.

(2) Answer the lawsuit and ask for proof. Not sure about LA, but you may only have 30 days to answer the lawsuit after you were served. Most courthouses give out free answer forms and some post them online. An answer would be something like "Denied. Asking for proof of debt." Upside: you can often win your case this way. Downside: can be super stressful and even if you win they can just sell the debt to another debt collector.

(3) Settle. Set up a payment plan with the debt collector. This can be a bad option if you are dealing with a bad collector (many are shady as frick). You can end up paying the whole thing off plus fees and interest, and still not get it off your credit report (especially if the original creditor sold the debt and you are dealing with a debt collector/debt buyer now that does not give a shite about reporting anything or doesn't have the authority to do it). Warning: debt settlement/consolidation companies are usually a scam in that the payments don't really settle anything (they are just ripping you off).

My advice would be to file an answer form within the 30 days, and get some advice/ do some research. If you admit the debt in the answer you will lose (just write in "Denied. Asking for proof of debt"). If you don't answer in time or don't go to a hearing you will lose by default. Bankruptcy is the only "sure thing" where the case is dismissed and you know for sure that your payments will actually go towards wiping out the debt. Many people pay debts off several times ("zombie debt") after they are sold on the debt market and debt buyers/collectors pass them around and don't report payments (the debt still shows up as 100% owed to the original creditor on your credit report, even after the original creditor has charged off and sold the debt).

You have to qualify for Ch. 7 (i.e. your income may be too high), so ask a local attorney.

Another thing you can look at is do a Google search for the collection attorney that sued you and see if they have a bunch of online complaints from debtors paying them, on Ripoff Report, etc.

It's usually just best to pull the plug and file Ch. 7, rather than go down the rabbit hole of debt collectors and charged off debt. It can be an absolute nightmare for people.

You can beat them in court usually, because they don't have any admissible evidence (just a computer file with thousands of names on it). This is for the same reason people's payments don't get reported (i.e. original creditor credit card company has charged-off and sold the debt on the debt market - "zombie debt"). Again, I would say just pull the plug, but here is more info., just to show debtors can beat these things in court most of the time:

Beat Debt Collectors in Court

Ch 7

Debt Settlement is Usually a Scam

Good luck, and please post here when you decide what to do and what the outcome is

Call Peter Ryan. He's an attorney based in Denham Springs who specializes in debt relief and debt-related cases. He's extremely laid back but is absolutely brilliant.

Great story too. Graduated undergrad from BYU-Oahu or something like that. Then went to post grad in England. Got his law degree from Tulane. Smart, smart guy who works with you in mind.

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Call Peter Ryan. He's an attorney based in Denham Springs who specializes in debt relief and debt-related cases.

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This sounds good if you don't qualify for Ch. 7. If you do, then any bankruptcy lawyer could help you. Downside of debt defense (fighting the lawsuit in state court) is the price, and that it doesn't get rid of the debt (the debt collector will usually transfer the debt back to the original creditor or to another debt buyer/collector after/if you WIN the lawsuit due to lack of proof).

Side note: just the act of filing for either Ch. 7 or 13 before your state court hearing/trial will shut down the lawsuit and the collections atty. will probably dismiss the lawsuit automatically. (Which means you win, even if your Ch. 7/13 case is dismissed for any reason -- which is better odds than fighting the lawsuit). Downside again is the bnkr filing will stay on your credit for 10 years.