Have court date-- defendant has filed chapter11

What is the name of your state? california-- But this is a New York Small Claims Action

Just got the notice of chapter 11 filing-- meeting of creditors for the corp I'm suing the filed on Feb 7 -- I had filed the small claims case in January. I had a small claims date on March 3-- is that still good or even worth going to? This is in New York City

You must cease all collection activity, including your lawsuit, till the bankruptcy case is decided. Contact the court in which you have filed the lawsuit and let them know about the BK, they will postpone the trial till the BK case is heard.

is that still good or even worth going to?

No. I’m sorry, Nancy. I’ve watched your posts from the start, and it looks as if they’ve shafted everyone.

The BK filing imposes an Automatic Stay on litigation and enforcement efforts. That’s just legalese for saying the law requires you to stop. You can’t go forward in Small Claims.

A Ch. 11 is a reorganization, meaning they submit a plan to the BK Court by means of which they propose to pay creditors, but it means payment over time, it usually means cents on the dollar and it needs to be approved by the Court. If the BK Court decides that they are not likely to be able to fulfill the plan, the BK will probably be converted to a Ch. 7, “no asset” petition. If that happens, secured creditors will get paid first, if anyone gets paid, and possibly nobody will.

Your claim “sounded in fraud”. They used your photos without authorization or consent is what we knew. A fraud claim is not dischargeable in BK, but we don’t know that you could satisfy all of the elements of fraud. Assuming for the sake of discussion that you could, you could file a Motion to Avoid the Automatic Stay, but it’s still an unperfected claim and the costs of trying those things from across the country for an amount that was going to be within SC jurisdiction is just not likely to make economic sense.

You’re apparently listed as a creditor, or you should not have received Notice. If so, you’ll get other status reports as the matter progresses. If you got Notice of a Ch. 11 filing, you were probably also given a Proof of Claim to file. Do it. If you didn’t get one and were given no reason, you were told the name and address of the BK trustee. Write to him/her to ensure that you’re on the list of creditors and to find out why you didn’t receive a PofC.

racer posted while I was writing. I don't disagree with him theoretically, but BK cases take a long time. You can ask the SC court to continue the matter, but I really doubt that it will continue it long enough (it could be months to review the plan and years to complete it). I think that you're going to have to dismiss without prejudice.

Maybe you get a chance to re-file, when the dust settles, but you'd have to opt-out of filing a BK claim and, if they are discharged and they've listed you as a creditor, you're not going to have any options. It would be different, if you hadn't gotten Notice but you did. It appears that they're treating you as a creditor for the purpose of the reorganization. If you can file a Claim and don't and they're discharged, their obligation to you will be included and you'll have no right to re-new the SC action.

A couple additional random thoughts.

You can get the Proof of Claim form from the internet (specifically, the court's website. Just be sure you choose the latest version - there is a different one used for pre-2005 cases.)
http://www.nyeb.uscourts.gov/forms.html

I was going to suggest attending the 341 meeting, as that alone is usually enough to get the Trustee's attention. However, I see you are out of state so unless you happen to be in the city on the date of the hearing, it's not financially worth it to go. Therefore, after you file the PoC, give the Trustee a call and introduce yourself and your fraud claim. In most cases, but particularly for a foreign creditor, the Trustee is your best source of information. You can also try running your claim past him/her to see what their take on it is. If they tell you it looks hopeless, it's a pretty good indication that you'd just be wasting your time filing a motion to lift the automatic stay. Give it a shot though, and see what happens.

Beyond that, if they do manage to keep the claim in the bankruptcy, I can give you the phone number of Vinny & Guido, and since they tend not to follow bankruptcy (or any other) law, their collection rates are pretty reasonable