Legal Question in Business Law in California

These are only guesses, from someone who's sitting far away and hasn't much information, but I'd expect that the delinquency on 1/31/2013 won't affect you claim for events that transpired on or near 12/8/2012. As far as recovering any money from the shop, each sign that it's experiencing financial difficulties would seemingly make it less likely you'll get a recovery. Your pending claim will be taken into account by the BAR in deciding whether to renew the license, which is not a mere ministerial act, but the outcome probably depends upon how many complaints -- i.e., is there a "pattern" of bad conduct, rather than one or a few isolated cases.