紐約市40家餐廳業者控告市衛生局的餐廳評等制度「違憲」，對小企業不公平罰款，只是為了增加市政府罰款收入，提告1.5億元。 紐約郵報報導，餐廳業者的訟狀說：「市衛生局檢查員根據令人混淆的方式和規定，透過濫開罰單的手段，巧立名目增加市府罰款收入，罔顧小餐飲店百姓生計的困苦。」 餐廳業者表示，因為市衛生局據以執法的規定沒有經過市議會的立法程序，只憑市長的行政命令，因此違憲。提控的業者包括在布朗士經營「酢漿草餐廳」 (Shamrock Inn)17年的史迪芬和蘿賽塔‧勞利斯(Stephen and Rosetta Lawless)。 史迪芬‧勞利斯在訟狀中說，一名衛生檢查員要他把雞蛋放在冰箱的上層，但另一名檢查員要他把雞蛋放在下層。 紐約郵報11日報導，衛生局開罰單吹毛求疵，經常挑剔和食物品質無關的項目。 市政府法務部女發言人表示，市衛生局餐廳評等制度促使餐廳改善廚房衛生，使80%餐廳都達到「A」級評等。餐廳業者的控告是對市府規定漫無目標的攻擊。(編譯中心:世界新聞網)
Restaurateurs launch $150M lawsuit against ‘unconstitutional’ Department of Health grading system — Forty restaurant owners slapped the city with a $150 million lawsuit today calling the Department of Health grading system unconstitutional and an unfair tax on small businesses Grimaldi said his clients, including Egidio Sementilli of the Italian joint Mamma Lucia in Locust Point, were inspired to file suit after the beverage industry won a challenge to the mayor’s soda ban. A spokeswoman for the city’s law department called the Manhattan Supreme Court filing a “rambling, scattershot attack on the city’s regulation of food service establishments.” She added that it “lacks merit and should be quickly rejected by the courts.” “The grading program has led to cleaner kitchens, with more than 80 percent now earning A grades.” ( By JULIA MARSH:June 11, 2013)