Naomi's Court No-Show

Apparently, Naomi Campbell won't get out of bed for anything less than a misdemeanor. That's on top of the $10,000-a-day.

The 35-year-old catwalker failed to show at a court hearing Wednesday morning to face charges of assaulting her former maid with a cell phone last March.

Which is an odd absence, considering all previous reports on the supermodel leave one with the impression that she's nothing if not a stickler for manners.

Campbell was due in Manhattan Criminal Court to face the second-degree assault charges brought by Ana Scolavino last spring, but was MIA for the hearing this morning with nary an explanation as to why.

The judge issued a bench warrant for Campbell's arrest, but later retracted it after the strutter's attorney, David Breitbart, said that the prosecution was aware the supermodel would be a no-show and had agreed in advance not to seek her arrest.

While Breitbart refused to divulge why exactly the hot-tempered looker was absent from the hearing, he did note that it was not due to professional reasons. The non-explanation seemed to tide the judge over in the hearing, though he warned that, should she again fail to appear in court next month, the arrest warrant would be reinstated.

"I want to make it clear that she is absolutely obliged to appear at the next hearing," Judge James Gibbons said. "If she fails to appear on that court date, the warrant will go into effect."

With any luck, the revised court date won't be necessary.

Breitbart told the court that Campbell was considering a plea bargain from the Manhattan District Attorney's office, but again refused to disclose any details about the would-be deal.

The charges stem from an altercation between Campbell and Scolavino on March 30. According to the former housekeeper, Campbell confronted the 41-year-old employee in her Upper East Side apartment, accusing her of stealing a pair of designer jeans.

Scolavino claims that she denied the thieving allegations, at which point Campbell threw a cell phone, hitting her in the back of the head and causing a gash so large it required a trip to the Lenox Hill emergency room and four staples.

As for Campbell, she claims that if anyone is the victimized party, it's her.

Reps for the globetrotting model said shortly after her arrest last spring that the accusations of assault were "retaliation" and that Campbell had fired Scolavino earlier that morning for "erratic behavior" and routine thieving.

Since the incident, two more former employees have come out of the woodwork to capitalize on Campbell's alleged striking streak.

She was sued by former maid Gaby Gibson, who claims her one time employer struck her last January over yet another pair of missing jeans, and Gibson's housekeeping successor, Amanda Brack, who claims the professional poser struck her with a Blackberry and slapped her in the face last February after allegedly misplacing a piece of Campbell's luggage.

Of course, fielding allegations of head trauma at the hands of the market's latest PDA are fairly de rigueur for the supermodel.

Apparently, what Michael Jackson is to child-molestation allegations, Campbell is to sue-happy assistants.

In 2000, Campbell pleaded guilty to hitting former personal assistant Georgina Galani on the head with a telephone not once but twice, for which she doled out an undisclosed settlement.

In 2004, Campbell's former maid, Millicent Burton, claimed Campbell slapped her across the face while in the confines of her Park Avenue apartment.

Last year, Campbell was again sued by a former administrative assistant, Simone Craig, who claimed, like those before and after her, to have been struck by the supermodel in her alleged body part of choice--the head--by her alleged weapon of choice--a telephone. Upping the litigious ante, Craig also claimed to have been held captive by the famous face.

As for the case with Scolavino, the supermodel is due back in court Nov. 15 for the rescheduled hearing. If convicted on the criminal charges, the British-born Campbell could face up to seven years in prison and deportation.