I am currently in contact with a lawyer, and I'm gonna post when I get definitive information on everything. But regardless, my court date is set for November, so I will definitely be attending that.
The California court also sent a certified mail court-summons, which requires Sam to attend this hearing by law. Failure to attend, I'd imagine, would not be good. I made sure I went through the right methods as well before I made this a legal issue.
*Off topic, but a few people asked me about my custom master cylinder, and how it's holding up. It's rock solid as the day I installed it.