Springsteen wins appeal over GTO album cover lawsuit

Bruce Springsteen has defeated a lawsuit over the vintage car pictured on the cover of his 2022 album Only the Strong Survive.

The New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division affirmed the dismissal of the case on Tuesday, Sept. 15, ending the appeal brought by the family and estate of the car's late owner, according to Billboard.

The dispute centred on a 1967 Pontiac GTO. The car belonged to Louis A. Billotti, a classic car collector from Toms River, New Jersey. In 2021, Billotti was paid $1,200 to bring the GTO to two photoshoots organised at Springsteen's New Jersey home, where Springsteen posed with the vehicle.

One of those photographs became the artwork for Only the Strong Survive. The album is a collection of R&B and soul covers. It debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200, the main US albums chart, in 2022.

Billotti died shortly before the album's release. His son then filed suit in 2023, alleging that Springsteen had made an oral promise to pay more if pictures of the car were used on an album cover.

Springsteen denied making any such promise. Sony Music and Springsteen's manager, Jon Landau, were also named as defendants in the claim.

A trial court dismissed the case on summary judgment, a decision that resolves a case without a trial because the evidence is insufficient. Billotti's estate appealed.

The appeals panel agreed with that outcome. It found no witness or document corroborated the alleged oral promise. The court described the claim as double hearsay, meaning it rested on one person repeating what another person was said to have said, without direct support.

For fans picking up the record now, the cover story is settled. The car stayed. The case did not.