Eagles singer Don Henley sues for return of handwritten lyrics to Hotel California song

Eagles singer Don Henley filed a lawsuit in New York on Friday seeking the return of handwritten notes and 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 US.

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

According to the lawsuit, the handwritten pages remain in the possession of the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who had no immediate comment on the proceedings.

Mr. Kosinski’s attorney, Shawn Crowley, said Mr. Henley continued to falsely accuse his client. He said criminal charges against Mr. Kosinski were dropped after it became clear that Mr. Henley misled prosecutors by withholding key information proving that Mr. Kosinski bought the sites in good faith.

“Don Henley is desperate to rewrite history,” Mr. Crowley said in a 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.”

Lawyers for Inciardi and Horowitz did not immediately comment on the matter, although Mr. Horowitz is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit because he does not claim ownership of the materials.

During the trial, lawyers for both men argued that Henley had given the lyrics pages decades ago to a writer who was working on an unpublished Eagles biography, who later sold the handwritten pages to Horowitz, who in turn sold them to Inciardi and Kosinski, who began auctioning off some of the pages in 2012.

The criminal case was abruptly dropped after prosecutors said defense attorneys had been essentially blindsided by 6,000 pages of documents implicating Mr. Henley, his lawyers and associates.

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

Judge Curtis Farber, presiding over the non-jury trial that began in late February, said witnesses and their lawyers used attorney-client privilege “to obscure and conceal information they believed would be damaging” and that prosecutors “were clearly being manipulated.”