Snapple and Mayor Bloomberg won round one yesterday in a court battle over the drink’s exclusive city franchise.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Richard Braun rejected a plea from City Comptroller William Thompson for a temporary restraining order that would have barred the Bloomberg administration from installing Snapple machines in municipal buildings starting today.
Braun said the comptroller failed to demonstrate that New Yorkers would suffer “irreparable harm” if the $126 million contract wasn’t blocked.
Braun scheduled a May 13 hearing on Thompson’s lawsuit challenging the contract that he claimed was awarded in a “backroom deal.”
Jeremy Epstein, Snapple’s lawyer, said the company has already spent $2.8 million on new vending machines, trucks and employees.