NEW YORK -- A New York bankruptcy judge on Friday confirmed Getty Petroleum Marketing Inc.'s (GPMI) Chapter 11 plan of liquidation offered by its unsecured creditors committee, overruling the remaining objections, reported Law360.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley C. Chapman approved the plan, which the report said had faced objections by New York City, the federal government, state governmental entities and others.
"The legal and factual bases set forth in the documents filed in support of confirmation and presented at the confirmation hearing establish just cause for the relief granted herein," said Chapman.
The committee filed the first amended Chapter 11 plan and disclosure statement May 30 calling for the straightforward liquidation of the gasoline giant and three subsidiary debtors, Gasway Inc., Getty Terminals Corp. and PT Petro Corp.
The unsecured creditors said the goal of their proposed plan is to provide the greatest immediate cash distribution possible to all claim holders. Furthermore, the plan offers "the highest, best and quickest recovery" possible for holders of general unsecured claims, according to the disclosure statement accompanying the Chapter 11 plan cited by the legal news service.
The plan provides for all of the debtors' property to be liquidated over time and for the proceeds to be allocated to creditors, said the report. Any assets not distributed by the effective date will be held by a liquidating trust and administered by a liquidation trustee, who will be responsible for liquidating assets, resolving disputed claims, making distributions, pursuing reserved causes of action and winding up GPMI's affairs, it added.
The assets to go into the liquidating trust include claims and causes of action against Lukoil North America LLC and Lukoil Americas Corp. over a 2009 transfer of gas stations from GPMI to its then-sister company, LNA.
On August 15, Chapman gave GPMI the OK to abandon a series of fuel storage tanks at former sites in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania--provided the company follows certain conditions intended to protect both people and the environment. Getty's official committee of unsecured creditors sought the court's permission to abandon the tanks--after it became clear that the Chapter 11 proceedings would result in liquidation rather than reorganization (see Related Content below for previous CSP Daily News coverage).
Since the debtors have rejected substantially all of their leases, "including the majority of leases relating to the properties housing the tanks," the committee said, the tanks have no value and are now a burden on the various estates.
GPMI and its subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 in December hoping to strengthen their operations and improve their ability to undertake environmental cleanup following an arbitration ruling against them in a dispute with an ethanol fuel company, Bionol Clearfield LLC, Law360 said.
Getty, along with its subsidiaries, listed between $50 million and $100 million in both assets and liabilities in its original petition, said the report.
(Click here for additional CSP Daily News coverage of the Getty case.)
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.