N.Y. appeals court upholds decision to block NYC soda ban

A ruling blocking New York’s ban on large sodas was upheld by an appeals court, which said the city’s Board of Health failed to act within the bounds of its authority when it approved the plan.

A unanimous panel of the New York State Supreme Court’s Appellate Division, First Department, in Manhattan today upheld Justice Milton Tingling’s March ruling striking down the city’s plan to cap the size of sugary soft drinks sold in restaurants, movie theaters, stadiums and arenas at 16 ounces a cup.

The city’s Board of Health in September approved Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plan. Groups representing beverage makers, restaurants and theaters sued to block the plan a month later, calling it “unprecedented interference” with consumer choice.

“The Board of Health overstepped the boundaries of its lawfully delegated authority when it promulgated the portion cap rule to curtail the consumption of soda drinks,” Justice Dianne T. Renwick wrote in the appeals court ruling. “It therefore violated the state principle of separation of powers.”

The city disagrees with the panel’s reasoning and will appeal to the state’s highest court in Albany, corporation counsel Michael Cardozo said in a statement.

The mayor is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.