Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California

You are correct in that you raised a number of issues. First is the mailbox. Contact the US Postmaster General's office to determine if what the process server did was illegal, or actionable on a civil basis. If there are penalties available for having rooted through your mailbox (which he probably did just to ensure that you still lived at that address, but not an excuse to violate the law), then you or the Postmaster General might have cause to go after the process server and possibly his company. The law firm representing the credit card company, and the credit card company will all claim that they are not liable for the process server's actions, and to a degree they are right. Process servers and attorney services are almost always independent contractors, they are licensed, and so they are individually liable for their actions. Their actions almost certainly cannot be imputed to the attorney or plaintiff in the lawsuit. As such, what the process server did may be illegal, but isn't going to help you with the lawsuit. You can determine who the process server was, and who he or she works for by checking the proof of service filed in the lawsuit once you have the Summons and Complaint.

As for the issue of the credit card company having not properly credited you for returned purchases, unless the credit card company actually acknowledged that the vendor (the person you bought the items from and returned them to) did process a refund and they simply didn't credit your account, again your issue is not with the credit card company, but the vendor who should have processed the refund. Unless the credit card company was the seller of the items, it is up to the merchant who created the charges to refund them back to you. While credit card companies have some duty to mitigate bad charges to an account, if the merchant does not cooperate, many times it is not incumbent on the credit card company to resolve. Additionally, not paying the bill is not the proper remedy and your only real defense to this lawsuit (based on the limited facts presented here) is that the amount they are trying to collect is wrong. Other than that, I assume you owe the remaining balances, and since you did not pay pursuant to the credit agreement, they probably have a right to obtain judgment against you.

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