Bruce Springsteen Wins Appeal, Won’t Face Lawsuit Over Vintage Car on 2022 Album Cover  

Bruce Springsteen has defeated a second attempt at litigation over his use of a New Jersey man’s 1967 Pontiac GTO in the album art for his 2022 cover collection Only the Strong Survive.

In a Tuesday (Sept. 15) ruling, obtained by Billboard, a New Jersey appeals court affirmed the earlier dismissal of a lawsuit brought against Springsteen by the family of deceased classic car collector Louis Billotti. The case had also targeted Sony Music, which owns Springsteen’s label Columbia Records, and his longtime manager Jon Landau.

In 2021, Billotti was paid $1,200 for Springsteen to pose with his vintage GTO during two photoshoots at the singer’s New Jersey home. One of those photos became the album artwork for Only the Strong Survive, a collection of R&B/soul covers that debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 in 2022.

Billotti died shortly before the LP’s release, and the man’s son alleged in a 2023 lawsuit that Springsteen had orally promised to pay his father additional money if the car photos ever ended up on an album cover. Springsteen denied making any such promise, and a trial court judge threw out the case last year due to insufficient evidence. Billotti’s estate appealed.

The New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division ruled Tuesday that this dismissal was the right call. The appeals panel said there isn’t a single witness or document to back up the younger Billotti’s description of a conversation relayed to him by his late father, a legal situation known as “double hearsay,” which must clear a high bar to be deemed admissible as evidence in court.

To the contrary, multiple witnesses testified that Billotti never expected any extra money from Springsteen. One of his longtime friends, for example, wrote in a sworn affidavit that Billotti “was a simple guy and just really enjoyed the experience he had with Bruce Springsteen and was looking forward to seeing his car on his album cover.” The appeals court said such statements “cast considerable doubt upon the probative value of plaintiff’s contentions.”

“Given the circumstances and the paucity of plaintiff’s evidence, the trial court had a sound basis to grant summary judgment,” wrote the appellate panel. “Whatever aspirations decedent may have had to be paid more money than the agreed-upon sums, the alleged promises were insufficiently evidenced and legally untenable.”

An attorney for Billotti’s son declined to comment on the ruling Tuesday. Reps for Springsteen and Sony did not immediately return requests for comment.