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Getty Petroleum Marketing Inc .'s chapter 11 plan is moving toward confirmation, but creditors of the defunct gas-station operator will not see payments for some time, Dow Jones DBR Small Cap reported today. Objections to the plan were resolved at a court hearing in New York Thursday, leaving only the final chapter 11 exit documents to prepare for a judge's signature. With no new cash coming in, hopes of recovery for creditors hang on lawsuits aimed at Lukoil Holdings , the Russian company that once owned Getty Petroleum.

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A month after a Bankruptcy Judge Eric L. Frank approved its reorganization plan, the Philadelphia Orchestra Association announced yesterday that it has officially emerged from chapter 11 protection, the Associated Press reported yesterday. The Orchestra addressed more than $100 million in claims, debts and liabilities with a settlement of $5.49 million, a statement from the association and its subsidiary, the Academy of Music, said. Of the total, $4.25 million will be paid according to an agreed-upon schedule, the statement said. The rest will be distributed according to a multi-year plan.

Bankrupt Energy Conversion Devices Inc. and its wholly owned unit United Solar Ovonic LLC have received a court's confirmation for their joint liquidation plan, Reuters reported yesterday. According to the plan, a trust will complete the liquidation of Energy Conversion and its unit's assets and distribute the cash to creditors of each company on a consolidated basis. Warranty claims will be settled by a warranty trust, which along with the liquidation trust will be managed by a committee of selected creditors. The confirmation order is expected to become final on Aug. 14, assuming there are no appeals before that time.

Chemical maker W.R. Grace & Co reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit and said that it would seek to emerge from its 11-year asbestos-related bankruptcy in the expectation that court appeals would be unsuccessful, Reuters reported yesterday. W.R. Grace filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2001, weighed down by asbestos-related claims. A district court approved its reorganization plan earlier this year, clearing a major hurdle for it to emerge from bankruptcy protection. The plan was reaffirmed in June. Eight parties filed notices of appeal before a July 11 deadline. The timing of the emergence from Chapter 11 will depend on satisfaction or waiver of the conditions set forth in the reorganization plan, according to the company.

Tribune Co. creditors appealed the newspaper chain’s reorganization plan and asked a judge to temporarily halt the company's effort to exit bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Aurelius Capital Management LP and other holders of Tribune’s oldest debts asked Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey to suspend his order approving the plan and a related legal settlement until a higher court reviews the case. Aurelius claims that Judge Carey erred when he approved a settlement that ended some lawsuits against lenders that financed the more than $8 billion leveraged buyout of Tribune in 2007. The creditors hold debt that preceded the buyout loans and claim that the settlement robbed them of the ability to collect by leaving Tribune insolvent. They want the settlement set aside so they can sue.

Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey has approved a plan by Tribune Co. to reorganize its debts and emerge from bankruptcy centered on the transfer ownership of the Chicago media company to a group of senior creditors led by Oaktree Capital Management, the Los Angeles Times reported today. The approval will allow the Federal Communications Commission to move forward on the company’s application to transfer its TV and radio broadcast licenses to the new owners — the last big hurdle in a case that has dragged on for 3½ years. Tribune also will be able to accelerate work on other administrative and financial matters that need to be completed before it can emerge from bankruptcy. Those include reshaping its corporate structure and obtaining $1.1 billion in new debt financing and a $300-million line of credit.

The parent company of Old Country Buffet and other buffet restaurant chains around the country has emerged from a second trip through bankruptcy with fewer restaurants and a much less debt, the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press reported on Friday. Eagan, Minn.-based Buffets Inc. said that it eliminated $255 million in outstanding pre-petition debt, and closed 140 underperforming restaurants. The reorganized company's stock is now wholly owned by its pre-petition lenders, it said.

Bankruptcy Judge Charles Rendlen III yesterday confirmed a bankruptcy plan that would pay about $26.5 million to hundreds of thousands of customers and other creditors of US Fidelis, the Wentzville, Mo., company that once led the nation in the sale of vehicle-service contracts, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported today. Before it collapsed in late 2009, US Fidelis was accused of cheating hundreds of thousands of consumers by selling them vehicle protection coverage that was virtually worthless. Judge Rendlen said that the plan was a victory for creditors, including about 625,000 consumers who bought vehicle-protection plans from US Fidelis. Under the plan, about $14.1 million will go to a national, consumer-restitution fund that will be administered by state attorneys general.

Tribune Co. has won court approval to emerge from bankruptcy, more than 3-1/2 years after seeking chapter 11 protection following a leveraged buyout that saddled the publisher of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times with too much debt, Reuters reported on Friday. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey on Friday overruled objections to the plan by a variety of creditors. He said he would confirm Tribune's fourth amended reorganization plan once some revisions were made. The reorganization will turn over ownership of Tribune to a group of lenders led by JPMorgan Chase & Co., the hedge fund Oaktree Capital Management LP, and Angelo, Gordon & Co., which invests in distressed companies. They will appoint Tribune's seven-member board. Approval of the plan clears the way for Tribune to seek Federal Communications Commission approval to transfer its broadcast licenses to new owners.

The Philadelphia Orchestra Association won court permission to exit bankruptcy after cutting musicians’ salaries and benefits by about $4 million a year, according to the orchestra's attorney, Bloomberg News reported ysterday. The 112-year-old symphony has already raised the $3 million needed to pay debts tied to its bankruptcy, allowing it to leave court protection sometime next month, said orchestra lawyer Lawrence G. McMichael. Leaving bankruptcy will make it easier for the orchestra to raise the $5 million needed for normal operations this year, McMichael said. While in bankruptcy, the orchestra eliminated all its debt and reduced expenses by $6 million a year.