Judge nixes NYC ban on big, sugary drink sales, calling it 'arbitrary and capricious'
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A state-court judge has struck down a New York City program that was to go into effect on Tuesday and would have banned some Big Apple businesses, including restaurants and theaters, from selling sugary drinks like soda pop in supersize containers.
In a blow to the administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who had promoted the ban, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Milton Tingling said it didn’t make sense and issued a permanent injunction, according to Reuters and the Wall Street Journal.
Despite the health benefits that might have been achieved under the program, the city’s regulations are “fraught with arbitrary and capricious consequences,” explained Tingling in his written opinion. “The simple reading of the rule leads to the earlier acknowledged uneven enforcement even within a particular city block, much less the city as a whole. … the loopholes in this rule effectively defeat the state purpose of the rule.”
Additional coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “NYC Bans Supersize Sugary Drinks at Restaurants and Theaters; Juice, Booze Among the Exceptions”
ABAJournal.com: “NAACP sides with soft-drink industry in challenge to NY ban on large sugary sodas”
ABAJournal.com: “Sweetened beverages are dangerous, need FDA regulation, say public health officials”
New York Times (reg. req.): “Preparation and Vows of Defiance as Big Sugary Drink Ban Is Set to Start”
