html post data,html - jquery clearing $.post data - Stack Overflow

I'm building a multi-part form. Each part executes a new script. When each script is executed it will check for required data. If said data is missing it will return a string "false"

part 1 fails correctly (calls highlight()) but part 2 just spits out "false" bypassing the highlight function as if data !== false. I've tried clearing data but this does not seem to work. Any ideas?

Thanks

$('.submit').live('click', function(){

var bclick = $(this);

var frm = "../../scripts/retain-" + $(this).attr('rel') + ".php";

var fields = $('#retain-form').serialize();

$.post(frm, fields, function(data){

if(data == 'false'){

highlight();

data = '';

}else{

var nForm = $(bclick).attr('rel');

nForm = parseInt(nForm[4]) + 1;

$(bclick).attr('rel', "form" + nForm);

$('#retain-steps').html(data);

}

});

})