Don Henley, the lead singer of Eagles, filed a lawsuit in New York on Friday, requesting the return of his handwritten lyrics and notes from the band’s popular record “Hotel California.”
The criminal charges against three collectibles specialists accused of plotting to sell the records were abruptly dropped by the prosecution in March, prompting the filing of a civil complaint in Manhattan federal court.
Following the dismissal of the criminal case against rare book dealer Glenn Horowitz, former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi, and rock memorabilia seller Edward Kosinski, the Eagles co-founder has maintained that the pages were stolen and pledged to pursue a lawsuit.
The Eagles’ 1977 record “Hotel California” is the third-best-selling album in American history.
Daniel Petrocelli, Henley’s attorney, stated via email on Friday that “Mr. Henley and his family own these 100 pages of personal lyric sheets, and he has never authorized defendants or anyone else to peddle them for profit.”
The handwritten pages are still in the possession of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, according to the lawsuit. The attorney’s office declined to comment on the case on Friday.
Attorneys representing Kosinski and Inciardi rejected the lawsuit as unfounded, pointing out that the criminal case was withdrawn once it was established that Henley had deceived prosecutors by omitting important material.
In an email, Kosinski’s attorney Shawn Crowley declared, “Don Henley is desperate to rewrite history.” “We are eager to pursue legal action in this case and hold Henley responsible for his persistent deception and abuse of the legal system.”
In a different statement, Inciardi’s attorney, Stacey Richman, said that the lawsuit aimed to “bully” and “perpetuate a false narrative.”
An email requesting comment from Horowitz’s attorney went unanswered. Horowitz isn’t listed as a defendant because he doesn’t claim ownership of the documents.
The men’s attorneys contended during the trial that Henley provided the lyrics pages to a writer decades prior, who used them to write a biography of the Eagles that was never published. Horowitz then purchased the handwritten sheets. He then sold them to Inciardi and Kosinski, who in 2012 began to auction off some of the pages.
Prosecutors acknowledged that defense attorneys had been mostly taken by surprise by the 6,000 pages of correspondence between Henley and his allies and attorneys, so they agreed to withdraw the criminal case.
The material was only obtained, according to the prosecution and defense, because Henley and his attorneys decided at the last minute to forgo the attorney-client privilege, which would have prevented any legal talks.
The nonjury trial began in late February, and Judge Curtis Farber noted that prosecutors “were apparently manipulated” and that witnesses and their attorneys “obfuscated and hidden information that they believed would be damaging.”