An appeals court in California ruled on Thursday that Kars4Kids, the charity known for its ear-worm jingle, can continue broadcasting in California for now.
The decision, issued by the California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, which hears appellate cases from the Orange County Superior Court, is the latest step in a legal case against the organization that claims its advertisements are misleading.
Wendy Kirwan, a spokeswoman for Kars4Kids, said the organization “applauds the appellate court’s ruling” as it appeals a lower court’s ruling last month.
“We believe the lower court’s findings on the facts and the law were deeply flawed, and we look forward to pursuing a broad appeal of that decision,” Ms. Kirwan said in a statement.
The Kars4Kids advertisement, which is broadcast on television and radio, features children singing a catchy song with the organization’s phone number and urging listeners to “donate your car today.”
In May, a Superior Court judge in Orange County found that the ads violated the state’s laws against false advertising and unfair competition. Kars4Kids appealed the decision and sought a stay of the ruling, which was granted on Thursday.
That decision in May was the result of a lawsuit filed by Bruce Puterbaugh, a California cabinetmaker in his 70s who had heard a Kars4Kids ad “over and over” on the radio and felt he had been misled by it after he donated a Volvo to the organization in 2021, according to court documents.
Kars4Kids primarily funds a New Jersey-based Jewish organization, Oorah, which provides programs, including an adult matchmaking service, trips to Israel for teenagers and summer camps in New York, the Superior Court judge, Gassia Apkarian, wrote in a ruling last month.
The only program in California that Kars4Kids sponsored was a promotional giveaway of Kars4Kids-branded backpacks, she found.
Judge Apkarian ruled that Kars4Kids had 30 days to stop broadcasting its ads in California.
Future ads must include “an express, audible disclosure of its religious affiliation and the geographic location of its primary beneficiaries and the age of the beneficiaries, specifying whether they aim for children or families, or both,” she wrote.
Ms. Kirwan said in the statement that “Kars4Kids’ programs benefit a wide array of children and teenagers in California and beyond.”
NBC News reported that Neal Roberts, a lawyer for Mr. Puterbaugh, said in a statement that Mr. Puterbaugh “remains confident that the appeal will not be successful and that the jingle will be taken off the air in California.”
Lawyers listed in court documents for Mr. Puterbaugh did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Sunday.
