Legal Question in Consumer Law in California

Re: Paying fees without an invoice

As far as I know, it is not illegal to threaten to sue someone for nonpayment of a debt owed. It may be a defense to such a lawsuit that they failed to provide an invoice or otherwise tell you how much you owed. But I am skeptical that someone who is owed a debt would refuse to inform the debtor how much is owed - it makes no sense. I further believe that the amount owed would be identified in the complaint and also in discovery in the lawsuit, so that the lack of knowledge of the amount would not be a long-lived argument.

Interestingly, in California, there is a penal code section that makes it a crime -- a criminal offense -- to threaten to report someone to a government authority (e.g., the District Attorney) in order to gain leverage in a civil matter. But that does not apply to your case, which involves the threat of civil litigation.

In any event, the good news is that, since they dropped their suit, your issue is purely academic.