suing me but never asked for money before doing so

[svon]

I live in Idaho and I am being sued by my neighborhood home owners association in small claims court because I was sent a letter by a lawyer last August (asking that I take care of some weeds in my lawn, and I dispute the necessity of the letter.) and they want reimbursed for the cost of the letter which I know they have a right to ask for but besides the cost of the letter they also want all court costs for sueing me. Now I wouldn't feel I had much of a case except for the fact that I was never billed or told that I owed money for the letter before they sued me. My question is is there a law or something that says that before you sue someone you have to at least make an atempt to collect the debt. If not what is the likelyhood that they will win court costs when they didn't try to collect or even notify me of the cost of the letter prior to sueing me?