What is the proper venue?

I'm going to venture a guess- although I'm sure someone else much more knowledgeable will be able to answer your question, but I think you would file in your state and county for the same reason one presses charges against someone for criminal actions within their own city/town - you are the "victim" in this scenario with the complaint. A long time ago I had to press charges against someone who lived 400 miles away from me. But I had to actually file the charges with my own county and jurisidiction.

But I could be totally wrong on this because this is a civil matter, and not a criminal one ^_^ Good luck just the same!

You are correct, you may file charges within your own county. To make sure it is proper venue please be sure to check with your state/district rules for civil procedure.

Well, they are doing business in your state of residence, and so you can sue them where you live. I've always heard you can sue in a County Court, but since it is a Federal issue they may be able to request a change of venue to a US Court.
When I had prepared a suit, I planned on filing it in the US District Court for my region. Here is the language I used in my complaint (albeit, the CA was only 20 miles from me as well):
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Except I never had to file it, because I also mailed the CA a copy with a final warning letter, and they gave into my demands before it got that far.

Jurisdictions vary, but usually it is in where the defendant "resides". If a corporation, it is their main office.

since the laws you are suing over are federal laws, then federal courts, regardless of the state, are appropriate. An attorney I am working with in my state(two lawsuits against CA's for breaking the same laws that youre dealing with) chooses only to file in federal court. If I recall right, you are allowed to sue in your state's courts over this--check the fdcpa for this information, I believe it is mentioned in the law itself.

Thank you for the responses. I'll do some more research, and see what turns up.

edited by FYI. Let's learn to ignore this poster.

Jeezus H Krist on a pogo stick! You again? You just don't learn, do you? Lsten up, one last time: There ain't no damn way I'm paying one thin dime on a debt that ain't mine. Got that? Good.

Now piss off, troll.

Heh...NNC again...you all notice he hasn't peeped a word on my thread talking about how I sued LVNV and won?:) No comments on that topic, nope. :) Anyhow, you can file in your own county, just goto the federal level for your area. I sued in small claims, but that is part of my strategy, using just Texas state laws so that they can't try to drown me in paperwork and since it would be very hard for them to disprove that they had not sent me validation. :)

Uncle, this kind of reaction is exactly the type of reaction he/she is trying to elicit from us which in turn degrades the overall quality of the site. FYI will put a muzzle on this post as she has done with his other recent posts when she signs on.