They must sue you in the county where you reside, or, in the county where the contract was entered in to. If they sue you elsewhere, it would be a violation of debt collection laws.

If they sue you at your local magistrate, then the lawsuit would likely be served by certified mail.

There is really no way to scan all PA counties, and you really should not be worried about that. Go an accept the certified letter and deal with this case. This sounds like a junk debt buyer case, which you should win, assuming that you retain a consumer attorney to defend you.

Please feel free to contact my office for a free, no obligation consult.

If a lawsuit was filed, there would be a copy of it at the courthouse. The lawsuit would be filed in the county where you reside most likely. Why would you call Lackawanna County and not Allegheny County? That is where you ought to have checked first. However, if this was before the magistrate, there would be no record at the courthouse of anything just yet.

If you are being sued, you would be sued in the county where you reside. The only exceptions might be if you moved recently and the creditor only had your old address in another county.

There will not be a refusal of service. A party has to be served before a judment can be entered. If the person cannot be served by regular means then the creditor will get approval to publish notice of the legal action in the newspaper. But don't play games and try to duck service. You will have to deal with the debt by some method and it is best to find out what this is for. So you need to retrieve the letter and find out what it is about first.