Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber, who is overseeing part of the fallout from General Motors Co.'s problems with faulty ignition switches, will retire from the bench, but remain active in recall status for at least a year, Reuters reported yesterday. Judge Gerber will assume recall status on Jan. 1, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York announced in a statement published late on Friday. Recall status allows judges who are technically retired to continue to serve. Judge Gerber will remain on the bench at least through 2015, according to the court's announcement. The move will therefore have little immediate impact on the GM case. It will, however, allow the court to hire a new judge to fill Gerber's slot, marking the third new judgeship in less than a year in the nation's second-busiest bankruptcy court. Veteran judges Allan Gropper and James Peck retired earlier this year, and court administrators are in the process of naming replacements.
