Naomi Campbell Has Her Day In Court

Supermodel Naomi Campbell appeared Tuesday in a Manhattan courtroom where prosecutors said a plea bargain was possible related to charges that she threw a cell phone at a maid in a dispute over a missing pair of jeans.

Campbell, silent and sheathed in a tight black dress, did not speak in court. The real action came outside the lower Manhattan courthouse, where close to 50 photographers and camera crews waited for a shot of Campbell after her appearance before Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Evelyn Laporte.

The 35-year-old supermodel, along with attorney David Breitbart and her small retinue, was forced to hide inside the courthouse for about five minutes until a car arrived to deliver them from the media horde.

When Campbell's case was called, prosecutor Shanda Strain told the judge that no grand jury action had been taken in the case. The defense then agreed to an adjournment pending a possible plea deal, and Laporte ordered everyone back in court on Sept. 27.

2Campbell, wearing 4-inch heels in the courtroom with her long hair flowing down the length of her back, was arrested on March 31 for allegedly throwing a cell phone at one of her employees in a dispute over a missing pair of jeans.

Campbell has called the allegations against her "completely untrue." But the housekeeper, Ana Scolavino, was treated for an injury to the back of her head after the incident.

This hasn't been the best week so far for Campbell. In a terse filing in a state court in Manhattan on Monday, Gaby Gibson accuses Campbell of injuries, employment discrimination, "civil assault, civil battery" and other wrongs. The damages she seeks are not specified in the lawsuit.

The court document offers no details, but in a published interview in April, Gibson said the model hit her Jan. 17, called her names and threatened to have her arrested. Gibson told the New York Post that Campbell got upset when she couldn't find a specific pair of jeans.

Gibson's lawyer, Thomas D. Shanahan, did not immediately return calls for comment. Neither Campbell's lawyer nor her publicist responded immediately to requests for comment.

The volatile Campbell has a history of problems with her employees. In 2003, the supermodel was sued by a former administrative assistant who said Campbell had thrown a phone at her during a tantrum two years earlier.

Campbell pleaded guilty in Toronto to assault for beating an assistant while making a film in Canada in 1998.
Samuel Maull