CATTY COURT 
Judge Frederic Block had a literal fight on his hands last week when an enraged spouse attacked her husband's mistress. Romance novel model Cindy Guyer is married to Andrew Catapano, a contractor who stands accused of bribing Con Ed officials, and allegedly fought her husband's girlfriend. The New York Daily News has an eyewitness account of the fight: "Witnesses said she called the woman a "tramp," flashed her wedding ring - and pulled the woman's long hair. 'I tapped her on the shoulder and called her a home wrecker," Guyer said. "Even if I did tug [her hair] a little, what's the big deal?'

SAME SEX INSURANCE?  
New York State Insurance Department has told State insurance companies that they should recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages. Gay City News reports how the governmental body issued a circular while waiting for a final decision in the case of Martinez v. Monroe Community College in Rochester, which debates these issues. The paper reports: "The specific trigger for the new insurance advisory is a portion of the Martinez decision in which the court held that the college's refusal to enroll an employee's same-sex spouse would violate the state Human Rights Law, which forbids employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The court said that the community college, a public employer, would be engaging in prohibited discrimination were it to exclude the employee's same-sex spouse from its health insurance program."

KAYE'S LEGACY 
Chief Judge Judith Kaye--soon to retire--gets the feature treatment in the legal press today. Out of the more than 500 opinions she has written over the course of her 25-year career, only 65 were dissenting opinions, The New York Law Journal reports. The paper rounds up her majority record: "Her majority rulings have struck down portions of two death penalty laws, allowed homosexuals to legally adopt their partners' children and to succeed their partners in rent-stabilized apartments, opened car leasing to drivers as young as 18, made adults who serve alcohol to minors liable for damages caused by drunken party-goers, expanded state liability for injuries suffered by inmates at the hands of other prisoners."