u/Unlikely_Resist1018

Please PM me if you have one for sale in US. TIA 🙏🏼

I need advice on the best course of action to handle a medical debt lawsuit that has some bizarre contradictions.

The Background:

Mid-Late 2023: I had several months of physical therapy. Every visit, the clinic told me my deductible was met and I owed $0 copay.

Oct 2023: I stopped going after my insurance renewed (I paid the new copay for that final visit).

Mid-Late 2025: Received some scam-looking texts and emails demanding payment. I ignored them thinking they were phishing.

Last Week (July 2026): I was officially served court papers suing me for a balance of roughly $1.3k.

The Current Mess:

The summons says it was issued in mid-June 2026.

I called the law firm listed on the papers. They told me the specific attorney handling the case retired 1–2 months ago.

Furthermore, the law firm claims they have no record of this case or case number in their system.

However, I checked my local court system online, and the case is real. There is an official active hearing date on the schedule.

I don’t mind paying the balance if I genuinely owe it—I just want this dismissed. My original plan was to contact the attorney, pay them, and have them drop the lawsuit, but the law firm can't find the file.

My Questions:

1. How do I legally respond or pay this if the law firm suing me claims they don't have the case record and the lawyer retired?

2. Who do I contact next to settle this before the hearing date so it doesn't hurt my credit or result in a default judgment?

3. Should I contact the original PT clinic directly, or is it too late since it's in the court system?

Thanks so much in advance 🙏🏼