The drama surrounding the handwritten Eagles lyrics from "Hotel California" has taken yet another turn, as rare-books dealer Glenn Horowitz has filed a lawsuit against Don Henley and his longtime manager, Irving Azoff. This latest legal battle follows years of accusations, criminal charges, and a tangled web of ownership disputes over more than 100 pages of drafts from the iconic album.
Horowitz, along with two other defendants, had been criminally charged in 2022 with conspiring to possess stolen property. The controversy dates back to the 2010s when some of the handwritten lyrics were considered for auction. At that time, Henley claimed the pages had been stolen and took the matter to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. This ultimately led to an indictment against Horowitz and the other two defendants. However, after three weeks of trial, prosecutors unexpectedly dropped the charges, citing new evidence and stating that their "confidence in the merits of this case is not enough." Despite this, Henley pursued a civil lawsuit to reclaim the lyrics, which remain in the custody of the DA’s office.
Now, Horowitz is striking back. His lawsuit accuses Henley, Azoff, and their legal teams of malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and other allegations. He claims Henley knew all along that the lyrics were not stolen but deliberately withheld this information to pursue legal action. Seeking punitive damages, Horowitz argues that his reputation has suffered significantly due to the case.
Horowitz’s lawyer, Caitlin Robin, voiced strong support for her client, telling The Independent, "Glenn is looking forward to his day in court. He already cleared his name when the charges against him were dismissed, but it's time to hold those responsible who were involved in his malicious prosecution."
On the other side, Henley and Azoff’s attorney, Dan Petrocelli, dismissed Horowitz’s claims. Speaking to Rolling Stone, Petrocelli stated, "Don Henley was a witness and a victim in a criminal trial brought by the Manhattan District Attorney after a formal indictment of Glenn Horowitz by a New York grand jury. The indictment highlighted the dark underbelly of the memorabilia business that exploited the brazen, unauthorized taking and selling of Mr. Henley’s handwritten lyrics. The only malicious prosecution involved here is the filing of this case by Mr. Horowitz." Reps for the two law firms also sued—Loeb & Loeb and Manatt, Phelps & Phillips—declined to comment.
To understand how these lyrics changed hands so many times, we have to go back to the late 1970s. At the height of their fame, the Eagles hired writer Ed Sanders to pen an official biography about the band. As part of his research, Sanders received various materials, including the now-infamous notepads containing handwritten lyrics. However, the book project was abandoned within a year, and Sanders reportedly kept the research materials for over two decades.
Fast-forward to 2005, when Horowitz and his business partner, John McWhinnie, purchased the handwritten lyrics from Sanders. Over the next several years, the lyrics were bought and sold multiple times. Eventually, in 2012, they ended up in the hands of Craig Inciardi, a former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator, and Edward Kosinski, a rock memorabilia dealer. Horowitz insists that after this transaction, he no longer had any involvement with the lyrics.
It wasn't until Inciardi and Kosinski attempted to auction off portions of the lyrics that Henley intervened. According to Horowitz's lawsuit, Henley’s lawyer reached out to Kosinski, negotiating the sale of one notepad back to Henley for $8,500 in April 2012. In court, Henley expressed frustration, saying he resented "buying my own property back," but admitted it was the "most practical and expedient way" to prevent an auction. Horowitz argues that by purchasing the lyrics, Henley effectively acknowledged that they were neither counterfeit nor stolen.
Yet, at the same time, Henley reportedly filed a complaint with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, claiming the materials were stolen. This launched a series of legal battles spanning several years. According to Horowitz, Henley and Azoff made false statements to law enforcement with the intent to "wrongfully imprison him and cause adverse publicity to his business."
The dispute escalated in 2016 when Henley, with Azoff’s backing, successfully blocked another attempt to sell the handwritten drafts. This intervention prompted the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office to get involved, leading to criminal charges against Horowitz, Inciardi, and Kosinski. Although the case was ultimately dismissed, the legal war rages on.
For his part, Henley has stood firm, maintaining that the notepads were always his property. He insists that the contract Sanders signed while working on the Eagles’ biography stipulated that all research materials remained the band’s property. Therefore, Sanders had no right to sell them in the first place.
During his testimony at the criminal trial, Henley was adamant, stating, "There is no tape or document anywhere where I say, ‘Mr. Sanders, you're free to keep these items in perpetuity, and you're free to sell them.'" He added, "I had a common-sense understanding that [Sanders] would return the material when he was done with it."
With this latest lawsuit, the legal battle over the Eagles’ legendary lyrics is far from over. Horowitz is determined to clear his name once and for all, while Henley continues to fight for what he believes is rightfully his. As the case moves forward, it promises to shed more light on the murky world of rock memorabilia, where ownership disputes, high-profile lawsuits, and accusations of theft often collide. Whether this case will finally resolve the controversy or add another chapter to the saga remains to be seen.
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