First, I wouldn't worry about it, in terms of your new job (congrats, by the way). The chances are that a Class C misdemeanor isn't even going to turn up on most background checks. And even it does, it sounds to me like the kind of thing that isn't going to keep you from getting that job.
What you should do to get to the bottom of it is contact the municipal court in the jurisdiction the incident happened in. If you live in a different jurisdiction, it wouldn't hurt to check there, too, but I'm pretty certain you would find it in the jurisdiction where it happened, if there is anything there to find.
My guess is that if you received a letter from a law firm, you probably DID get charged with assault. The law firms will check the court records and send out letters to try to get your business. I highly doubt that letter you received came out of thin air.
Piecing this thing together, I want to say that you no longer live at the last address on file with the authorities, which is why you didn't get the citation in the mail. But then again, how did the law firm get your address in order to send you that letter? Have you recently changed addresses?
Bottom line, just call the courts and see if you have a case against you. If you do, then it has probably gone into warrant status by now, and that could get ugly if you get pulled over. So check it out tomorrow morning.
If you indeed do have a charge against you, don't sweat it. You'll have to go the court and either post a bond if they are willing to reset your court date, or pay the fine in full. You can probably get deffered adjudication and the charge will never appear on your record.
Best of luck. Let us know how you get on.
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