A New York judge has stopped Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration from banning the sale of large sugary drinks at New York City restaurants, just one day before the ban was to take effect.
The city is "enjoined and permanently restrained from implementing or enforcing the new regulations," wrote New York Supreme Court Judge Milton Tingling, according to a Wall Street Journal story. The city's attorney pledged to appeal the ruling.
The judge ruled that, as written, the drink ban is arbitrary and would be difficult to enforce with consistency.
City health officials approved the first-of-its-kind prohibition last year, which banned establishments from restaurants to mobile food carts from selling sugary drinks larger than 16 oz. After a three-month grace period, the city would have started fining violators $200 per sale, the story said.
The rules didn't include convenience stores, such as 7-Eleven, or supermarkets, the Wall St. Journal noted.
