AS GOES THE COAST GUARD... 
Upholding a decision by Eastern District Judge Edward R. Korman, the Second Circuit on Thursday ruled that the city could not limit its liability for the 2003 Staten Island ferry disaster. City Room, The New York Times’s metro blog, has the story. In an 18-page decision, the panel wrote that “the city did not act with reasonable care when it allowed a single pilot to operate the Staten Island ferry without at least one person in or near the pilothouse, aware of the navigational circumstances, and ready to render or summon assistance in the event of an emergency.” The city had argued that damages should be capped according to an 1851 maritime law intended to bolster shipbuilding that limited a boat owner’s liability to the value of the boat minus repair costs. But Judge Korman, and subsequently the appellate panel, ruled that the law did not apply if the city’s managers had acted negligently, which in this case they had. In determining negligence, the appellate court deferred to the standard of care used by the Coast Guard, which requires two crew members to be on watch in or near the pilothouse. “As the Coast Guard has determined that it is appropriate for ships of the Barberi’s size and passenger capacity to adopt such safety precautions, we hold that reasonable care would require the Staten Island Ferry to adopt them as well,” the panel wrote.

A PROSECUTOR, HER BOYFRIEND, AND A SWEETHEART PLEA DEAL
Queens Supreme Court Justice Jeremy Weinstein has rejected defendant Joseph Bonelli’s motion to appoint a special prosecutor based on allegations that an assistant district attorney convinced Bonelli to hire her boyfriend in exchange for a sweetheart plea deal after he was arrested on drug and weapons possession charges. The New York Law Journal has the story. Although the allegations might have substance — the ADA in question, Barbara Wilkanowski, has been placed on unpaid leave, and the misconduct allegations are “under investigation”— Weinstein held that, “the mere appearance of impropriety, standing alone, is insufficient to warrant disqualification of a constitutional officer from his elected position.” Bonelli, who replaced his initial attorney after a conference with Wilkanowski, received a sentence of up to seven years in exchange for pleading guilty. But he then sought to vacate the deal due to Wilkanowski’s alleged misconduct. (He says she promised him no jail time.)

GAMBINO FATHER (AND SON?)
Attorneys for the recently indicted Gambino crime family members were supposedly happy when Eastern District Judge Jack B. Weinstein took over the case after Judge Nicholas A. Garaufis recused himself. (Last year, Weinstein reversed the murder convictions of so-called “Mafia cops” Louis J. Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa on statute of limitations grounds.) But as reported by Newsday, one prospective lawyer, Joseph Corozzo, received a shock yesterday when Weinstein disqualified him from representing his father, also named Joseph, a reputed Gambino consigliere who was arrested in February. Weinstein cited a conflict of interest, since the attorney Corozzo had a previous legal relationship with Salvatore Romano, a convicted Wall Street con artist. Roman testified that he and Corozzo had once worked out a secret agreement to prevent a witness from cooperating with investigators in a way that hurt Gambino crime family rackets. That relationship, Weinstein said, prevented the attorney Corozzo from ever cross-examining Romano.

SUIT CONFERENCE
Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye will hold a press conference Monday, reminding legislators of the judicial pay raise requests looming over the upcoming state budget plans. According to the Law Journal, Judge Kaye and Administrative Judge Ann Pfau wrote a letter reminding state judges to lobby hard for the pay raises and keep the pressure high as the Legislature debates budget problems in an unstable economy. "We want to take every possible opportunity to keep attention on judicial salaries," the judges wrote in a letter about the Albany press conference. The event will include Bernard Nussbaum, the attorney on retainer for a possible lawsuit about the salary problem.

UNCOUNTED CALORIES
The New York Post reports that a federal judge has lifted the calorie-counting deadlines for major chain restaurants in the city. The Department of Health had required a number of eateries to include calorie numbers for foods on menus. Federal Judge Richard Holwell dropped the deadline while he considers a lawsuit filed by the New York State Restaurant Association over the controversial measure.