Don Henley sues for return of handwritten lyrics to “Hotel California.”

Eagles lead singer Don Henley filed a lawsuit in New York on Friday (June 28) seeking the return of his handwritten notes and song lyrics from the band’s 1976 album. Hotel California.

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

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

“These 100 pages of personal song lyrics 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 the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who declined to comment Friday on the legal proceedings.

Lawyers for Kosinski and Inciardi dismissed the lawsuit as baseless, noting that the criminal proceedings were discontinued after it was determined that Henley misled prosecutors by withholding crucial information.

“Don Henley is desperate to rewrite history,” Kosinski’s attorney, Shawn Crowley, said in an emailed statement. “We look forward to resolving this case and filing suit against Henley to hold him accountable for his repeated lies and misuse of the justice system.”

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

A lawyer for Horowitz, 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, lawyers for both men argued that Henley decades ago gave pages of lyrics 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 Kosiński, who in 2012 started putting some of the pages up for auction.

The criminal case was abruptly dropped after prosecutors agreed that defense attorneys had been essentially blindsided by 6,000 pages of correspondence regarding Henley, his lawyers and associates.

Prosecutors and the defense said they received the materials only after Henley and his lawyers made a last-minute decision to waive attorney-client privilege, which 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.” .