I was served with a civil summons and wrote a dispute with in the proper time frame.

You usually only have 30 days to answer discovery or else the other side can ask for sanctions or ask that allegations be deemed admitted.  This is what collection firms do- they paper you to death until you give up and lose on a technicality.  You really need to hire an attorney to help you.  The next step is they will file a motion to have the Request for Admissions deemed admitted and for Summary Judgment based on those admissions.  Hire a lawyer or else you will likely lose on this technical issue.  The other option is make then an offer to settle.   Charlotte Debt Settlement    

You are in a lawsuit, and the other side has served you with discovery requests, which is standard.  Since you have disputed the other side's claims, you will now have to go through the procedure of a lawsuit, which includes both sides gathering information through the discovery process and then presenting evidence at a trial when a judge or jury will determine who is right.  Thus, assuming there is nothing objectionable about the information being sought, and that discovery is allowed in the court in which you are appearing (small claims court rules may not allow discovery in some jurisdictions, but it is safe to say that discovery is allowed in all other non-small claims civil matters) you have to comply.  It is especially important that you respond to the request for admissions in the time frame allowed, otherwise you will be deemed to have admitted matters which you may wish to dispute, and you will probably lose the suit.  You can stop the discovery by settling the suit, but of course you cannot force the other side to accept a settlement proposal.  You can stop the suit by winning on summary judgment, or by filing for bankruptcy protection, but I have no way of determining your chances of winning a motion or your circumstances vis a vis bankruptcy (which might only delay the suit).  Other than that, or if the other side decides to drop the suit for whatever reason, you have to either comply with what you're required to do to contest the suit, or default.