Eagles Singer Don Henley Files New Lawsuit Seeking To Regain “Hotel California” Handwritten Lyrics

Back in March, Don Henley, the singer for the Eagles, learned that handwritten notes and song lyrics for the hit song “Hotel California” were up for auction. Claiming that someone stole the pages, he promised to pursue a separate lawsuit after prosecutors dropped criminal charges against Glenn Horowitz, Craig Inciardi, and Edward Kosinski. He accused the three collectible experts of scheming to gain a profit from the documents. And keeping to his promise, Henley filed a new lawsuit against the men on Friday. 

Filing the lawsuit in New York, Henley’s lawyer, Daniel Petrocelli, announced in a statement, “These 100 pages of personal lyric sheets belong to Mr. Henley and his family, and he has never authorized defendants or anyone else to peddle them for profit.” When looking at the lawsuit, it pointed to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg still having possession of the prized notes.

While releasing his own statement, Kosinski’s lawyer, Shawn Crowley, accused Henley of wanting to change the past to help benefit his future. “Don Henley is desperate to rewrite history. We look forward to litigating this case and bringing a lawsuit against Henley to hold him accountable for his repeated lies and misuse of the justice system.”

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Lawyers Claims Don Henley Gave Away The Lyrics Freely

Stacey Richman, the lawyer for Inciardi, added that Henley was using the new lawsuit to try and “Bully” the three experts into giving back the documents. During the recent trial, the lawyers offered a story where Henley willingly gave the lyrics to a writer who worked on a biography surrounding the Eagles. Although the book never released, the writer kept the pages and eventually sold them to Horowitz. 

At the time, Prosecutors suggested that Henley lost his attorney-client privilege when the defense lawyer received over 6,000 pages from conversations between Henley and his lawyers. The presiding judge at the time, Curtis Farber, criticized the lawyers, noting how they used their privilege to “hide information that they believed would be damaging.” Adding that prosecutors were manipulated, the criminal charges were dropped. But that hasn’t stopped Henley from looking to once again own a piece of “Hotel California.”

(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)