International Meters, Inc. v. City of New York

This is a taxpayers’ action brought under section 51 of the General Municipal Law to restrain the defendants from perfecting or awarding a proposed contract for the purchase of parking meters after the opening of bids therefor.

Plaintiffs assert in their complaint that the notice of proposal for bids and the specifications are unreasonable, arbitrary and illegal in at least two respects, thus precluding free and competitive bidding and causing a waste of the taxpayers’ money. The first of these two requirements that plaintiffs ’ claim is arbitrary, unreasonable and illegal is as follows: “…