SABHNANI SHUFFLE
In case you somehow missed it (given the trial’s salacious media hook), the Long Island couple accused of harboring two Indonesian slaves has been convicted in the courtroom of Eastern District Judge Arthur D. Spatt. They now face astronomical prison sentences. The New York Times has the story. After the verdict was announced, Varsha Sabhnani and one of her three daughters fainted, forcing Spatt to clear the courtroom and send Ms. Sabhnani to the hospital, delaying the awarding of damages from her and her husband, Mahender, until today. As reported by the Times, defense lawyers argued that the victims — identified only as Samirah, 51, and Enung, 47 — inflicted wounds on themselves as part of an Indonesian folk cure and invented the slave charges to obtain the immigration status conferred on victims of torture and abuse. -J.S.

KERIK'S "HIGHLY ADMISSIBLE" ATTORNEY 
Newsday reports that the judge hearing the Bernard Kerik corruption case appears to be sympathetic to a prosecution request to disqualify one of the former police commissioner’s attorneys, Kenneth Breen, and instead make him testify against his former client. While not issuing a ruling, in a hearing Monday Southern District Judge Stephen Robinson said Breen could provide “compelling” and “highly admissible” testimony stemming from his alleged presence at a meeting where Kerik gave another of his lawyers false information to obtain a settlement with the Bronx District Attorney’s office, which was investigating claims that Kerik bribed a company for $250,000 to renovate his Manhattan apartment. The prosecution claims this amounted to obstruction of justice, negating Kerik’s attorney-client privilege. -J.S.

RESTAINO SUSPENDED 
Elsewhere, the Medina, New York Journal Register reports on the imminent suspension of Niagara Falls City Court Judge Robert Restaino for his jailing of 46 defendants after none took responsibility for a ringing cell phone in his courtroom. The paid suspension was made official on Monday by the Court of Appeals and stays in effect until the court rules on whether to accept the Commission on Judicial Conduct’s recommendation to remove Restaino from the bench for “an egregious and unprecedented abuse of judicial power.” “We knew (the suspension) was being considered. We did not oppose it,” said Terrence Connors, the attorney representing Restaino in his appeal of the sanction. “[The review] goes on a relatively fast track. I have 30 days to file, and the commission gets 30 days to respond, so we could be in front of the court in 90 days. Our focus will be to convince the court that the punishment is excessive. This is obviously a difficult time for [Restaino], but he is focused on helping us prepare the materials on his exemplary life that we want the court to hear.” -J.S.

I HAVE A RIGHT TO USE THE BATHROOM!
The New York Law Journal reports that those of you who have ever sat for hours on a cold airplane will appreciate a current matter before Northern District Judge Lawrence E. Kahn. Today Kahn will hear arguments by the airline industry, which is seeking an injunction against the so-called airline passengers’ bill of rights. The state law, slated to go into effect at the start of the new year, was created after passengers were confined to aircraft during winter-weather delays, sometimes without water or working toilets. The law requires airlines to supply food, rest rooms, and fresh air to travelers in such situations and, if not, impose $1000 fines per passenger violation. “The airlines are simply not doing their job,” said State Senator Charles J. Fuschillo, R-Freeport, the chief Senate sponsor of the bill. “It is important that New York and other states, wherever possible, enact consumer protection laws. It was a common sense law that we wrote.” Countered the air carrier’s attorney, John Carter Rice: “At issue here is precisely the danger that Congress sought to prevent — the prospect of overlapping and/or inconsistent regulation of air carriers by the federal government and each of the 50 states, with each state imposing its own requirements, prohibitions, and standards on air carriers.” -J.S.

SUBPRIME MORTGAGE FALLOUT, PART DEUX (OR TWELVE)
The Wall Street Journal runs a piece on the latest subprime mortgage battle - this one legal. Major financial players, including Deutsche Bank AG, bond insurer MBIA Inc., Wachovia Corp., and UBS AG are fighting over mortgage investment vehicle Sagittarius CDO I Ltd., a $985 million "collateralized debt obligation" that had been used to pool together mortgage-backed securities and sell bonds related to those pools. However, investors are now embattled over who holds what in the tangled fund, which "triggered 'an event of default'" on November 6, prompting the parties to fight over which received the payments; Detusche Bank filed legal papers December 3, disputing MBIA's claim that it is owed a larger share of the payout. The paper reports that the bank's filing "essentially ask[s] the court to guide it on whom exactly should be paid."  And while it is one of the first courtroom battles of the subprime mortgage collapse, it may not be the last: according to one recent J.P. Morgan Chase report quoted by the Journal, "If there's one safe prediction for 2008, it is that legal teams will be busy." -H.B.

THE GREY LADY'S IRON FIST COMES DOWN - ON SILVER
And finally, the Times weighs in on the judicial salary battle, writing that New York’s “woefully underpaid jurists” may finally have hope – but that it  “will require Sheldon Silver, the Assembly speaker, to step up and make it happen.” The editorial rails on state Assembly Speaker Silver, saying, “All that now stands in the way of addressing this serious threat to the quality of justice is the selfish intransigence of the Assembly speaker and members of his Democratic majority. . . .His fellow Democrats and he are trying to dismiss Senator Joseph Bruno’s leadership on judicial pay raises as a cynical political stunt. It may be cynical, but whatever his motives, Mr. Bruno, the Senate majority leader, has led in the right direction.” -H.B.