Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California

Re: Debt dispute

As an initial matter, you ARE on the hook for the bill, because it's in your name. The only way they won't sue you is if they look at your assets(job, property, etc.) and assume this debt is not collectible. You may try to show that you weren't the one that didn't incur the bills, but if you allowed the phone to be in your name and didn't change it when you left, they have no reason to let you off.(If they do, good for you, but they probably won't).

You have a couple of choices. You can fight it based on "principle" though your name was on it in actuality, or you can do what you need to do to save your credit, and chalk it up to a lesson learned. Theroetically, you could sue the other parties for, but with them being overseas, unless they come back soon, that might not be worthwhile. Ultimately, this is about your credit. My advice would be to come to some understanding about the bill(that is, get it paid), and sue those guys later if you can. If the collections company sues you, then you can cross-complain against your former roommates to indemnify you for any losses, although getting them served by present its own difficulties. Good luck with all this.