Eagles singer Don Henley is suing over the return of handwritten lyrics to “Hotel California.”

NEW YORK (AP) — Eagles singer Don Henley filed a lawsuit in New York on Friday seeking the return of his handwritten notes and song lyrics from the band’s hit album “Hotel California.”

The civil complaint, filed in federal court in Manhattan, came after prosecutors in March abruptly dropped criminal charges midway through the trial against three collectibles experts accused of conspiring to sell the documents.

The Eagles co-founder maintains the pages were stolen and announced he would pursue legal action after criminal charges were dropped against rare book dealer Glenn Horowitz, former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi and rock memorabilia dealer Edward Kosinski.

“Hotel California” released by the Eagles in 1977 is the third best-selling album of all time in the U.S.

“These 100 pages of personal text sheets belong to Mr. Henley and his family, and he never authorized the defendants or anyone else to sell them for profit,” Daniel Petrocelli, Henley’s attorney, said in an emailed statement Friday.

According to the lawsuit, the handwritten pages remain in the possession of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, which declined to comment on the litigation on Friday.

Attorneys for Kosinski and Inciardi dismissed the lawsuit as meritless, pointing out that the criminal case was dismissed after it was determined that Henley misled prosecutors by withholding key information.

“Don Henley desperately wants to rewrite history,” Shawn Crowley, Kosinski’s lawyer, said in an emailed statement. “We look forward to resolving this case and filing a lawsuit against Henley to hold him accountable for his repeated lies and misuse of justice.”

Inciardi’s attorney, Stacey Richman, said in a separate statement that the lawsuit is intended to “intimidate” and “perpetuate a false narrative.”

Horowitz’s attorney, who is not named as a defendant because he does not claim ownership of the materials, did not respond to an email seeking comment.

During the trial, the men’s lawyers argued that Henley gave the lyric pages decades ago to a writer who was working on a never-published Eagles biography and later sold the handwritten sheets to Horowitz. He, in turn, sold them to Inciardi and Kosinski, who began auctioning some of the sites in 2012.

The criminal case was abruptly dropped after prosecutors said defense lawyers were essentially blindsided by 6,000 pages of documents involving Henley, his lawyers and associates.

Prosecutors and the defense said they only received the materials after Henley and his lawyers made a last-minute decision to waive attorney-client privilege that protects legal discussions.

Judge Curtis Farber, who presided over the non-jury trial that began in late February, said witnesses and their lawyers used attorney-client privilege “to obfuscate and conceal information that they believed was prejudicial” and that prosecutors “were clearly manipulated.” .

Associated Press reporter Jennifer Peltz in New York contributed to this report.

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