Getty Petroleum Marketing Bankruptcy Plan Approved

NEW YORK -- Getty Petroleum Marketing Inc.'s (GPMI) Chapter 11 plan of liquidation was approved by a bankruptcy judge on Friday.

According to Law360, Shelley C. Chapman, a judge for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, gave the go-ahead to a plan set forth by GPMI's unsecured creditors committee, despite objections from New York City, the United States and multiple state entities. As CSNews Online previously reported, one of those objections was a claim by New York City that the creditors committee did not file the bankruptcy plan in "good faith" and that the liquidation plan fails to account for GPMI's potential liability to the city for environmental cleanup of leaking storage tanks.

However, Chapman ruled that the "legal and factual bases set forth in the documents files in support of confirmation and presented at the confirmation hearing establish just cause for the relief granted herein," the website reported.

GPMI filed for bankruptcy on Dec. 5. The unsecured creditors committee filed the bankruptcy liquidation plan on May 30, saying its goal was to provide the greatest cash distribution possible to all claim holders. The committee's liquidation plan also sought to offer the "highest, best and quickest recovery" possible for holders of general unsecured claims.

Now that the bankruptcy plan has been approved, GPMI's assets will go into a liquidating trust. The trust will also handle claims made against Lukoil North America LLC and Lukoil Americas Corp. regarding its 2009 transfer of gas stations from GPMI and its sister company, LNA.

Chapman's ruling on Friday follows her Aug. 15 judgment that allowed GPMI to abandon a series of storage tanks as former operations in the Northeast, provided it followed certain conditions.

In its initial petition to the bankruptcy court, GPMI claimed it has between $50 and $100 million in both assets and liabilities.

GPMI formerly leased 799 convenience stores and gas stations from Getty Realty Corp.