Bruce Springsteen Wins Appeal Over Pontiac GTO on ‘Only the Strong Survive’ Cover

Bruce Springsteen has won an appeal over the vintage Pontiac GTO featured on the cover of his 2022 album “Only the Strong Survive,” leaving intact the dismissal of a lawsuit seeking additional payment for use of the car.

A New Jersey appeals court ruled Tuesday that the estate of classic car collector Louis A. Billotti lacked sufficient evidence to pursue claims against Springsteen, his management company and Sony Music Entertainment over an alleged promise to pay Billotti more if photographs of his car were used on an album cover.

Billotti received a total of $1,200 for two 2021 photo shoots involving his 1967 Pontiac GTO at Springsteen’s New Jersey home. One of the photographs later became the cover of “Only the Strong Survive,” while images from the sessions were also used on promotional merchandise.

Billotti died before the album was released. His estate later sued Springsteen, Jon Landau Management and Sony, claiming he had been orally promised additional compensation if the photographs were ultimately used for an album. The lawsuit asserted negligent misrepresentation and unjust enrichment claims.

A trial judge dismissed the case at summary judgment last year, finding the estate lacked admissible evidence supporting the alleged promise. The New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division affirmed that decision Tuesday.

Much of the estate’s case relied on statements Billotti allegedly made to his son and others about what Springsteen or people working with him had promised. The appellate court described those accounts as “double hearsay” because the witnesses were repeating Billotti’s description of conversations they had not personally heard.

Billotti’s death complicated the evidentiary issue. New Jersey law can allow certain statements made by a deceased person to be admitted despite hearsay rules, but judges must find enough evidence that the statements are trustworthy. The appellate panel agreed with the trial court that the estate failed to meet that standard.

Other witnesses also undercut the estate’s version of events. A longtime friend said Billotti “just really enjoyed the experience he had with Bruce Springsteen” and was looking forward to seeing his car on the album cover, with no indication that he expected another payment.

The court said those statements “cast considerable doubt upon the probative value” of the estate’s claims.

Judges also found problems beyond the hearsay issue. The estate never established who specifically made the alleged promise, what additional compensation had been promised or how much Billotti was supposedly owed.

The negligent misrepresentation claim faced another obstacle because Billotti had already been paid for both photo shoots and the estate did not identify an economic loss caused by use of the car. The court noted that appearing on a Springsteen album cover may have increased the Pontiac’s value as a collector’s item rather than diminished it.

The appellate panel also upheld dismissal of the unjust enrichment claim, finding the evidence insufficient to show that Springsteen or the other defendants owed Billotti additional compensation.

“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,” the court wrote.

The ruling is unpublished, meaning it does not serve as binding precedent in other New Jersey cases. It leaves the trial court’s dismissal intact and ends the estate’s current appeal.

“Only the Strong Survive,” Springsteen’s collection of soul and R&B covers, was released in November 2022 and reached No. 8 on the Billboard 200. The 1967 Pontiac at the center of the dispute remains prominently featured on the album’s cover.