Judge bars Kars4Kids from advertising in California, saying it misled donors about Jewish mission
JTA — A California judge has ordered Kars4Kids to stop airing its ubiquitous jingle in the state unless the Jewish car-donation charity discloses that its funding is dedicated to Orthodox Jewish programs for families and adults in New York, New Jersey, and Israel.
The ruling last week by a California Superior Court judge found that Kars4Kids had violated the state’s false advertising and unfair competition laws by failing to disclose where it allocated funds from its donations.
The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit brought by a California donor, Bruce Puterbaugh, who argued that he would not have donated his vehicle to the nonprofit if he had known that the funds were “directed at a Jewish organization in New York.”
Esti Landau, the chief operating officer of Kars4Kids, testified that the nonprofit serves as the primary funding mechanism for Oorah, a Jewish outreach nonprofit that runs a summer camp in upstate New York, according to court filings. Kars4Kids is based in the heavily Orthodox city of Lakewood, New Jersey.
Landau said in the filing that Oorah’s programs include “matchmaking” for young adults as well as “gap year” trips to Israel for 17- and 18-year-olds and that the nonprofit operates no functional programs in California.
“The failure to disclose that funds benefit adults and families — and that this support is........
