Eagles’ Don Henley has filed a lawsuit to get his handwritten notes and lyrics back.
The lyric sheets in question are for songs from the band’s classic album Hotel California. They were the subject of a criminal trial earlier this year, in which three men — Craig Inciardi, rock memorabilia dealer Edward Kosinski and rare-books dealer Glenn Horowitz — were accused of trying to auction them off.
The trio claimed they got the sheets from writer Ed Sanders, who came into possession of the documents when he worked on Henley’s never-published biography. Henley had argued that the sheets were stolen and not given to Sanders.
The case was eventually dismissed due to a late disclosure of documents by Henley’s team; the lyric sheets have been in the custody of the New York district attorney ever since. Now Henley’s new suit against just Inciardi and Kosinki is seeking to have a court declare he is the rightful owner of the documents and that they be returned to him.
“Because Kosinski and Inciardi have also claimed title over Henley’s lyric sheets, the issue must be decided in a civil court with appropriate jurisdiction,” reads the lawsuit. “Henley therefore seeks a declaration from this Court that he is the lawful owner of his seized lyric sheets to provide the ‘satisfactory proof of his title’ that will facilitate the District Attorney’s return of his property.”
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