Don Henley has had the scales of justice turned on him as he been sued by one of the three men he filed a suit against over what he claimed were stolen handwritten lyrics to songs on the Eagles Hotel California album.
Glenn Horowitz — a rare-books dealer who had the charges against him dropped last year after prosecutors discovered information and stated that their “confidence in the merits of this case [was] not enough” to continue the trial — has filed suit against Henley and Eagles manager Irving Azoff. He claims Henley knew the lyrics weren’t stolen and intentionally hid this knowledge from authorities.
Dan Petrocelli, a lawyer for Henley and Azoff, says, “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.”
Horowitz accuses Henley, Azoff and their attorneys of malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and more. He’s seeking punitive damages to be determined at trial.
Following last year’s dismissal of the case, Henley filed a civil suit to get the lyrics back. They remain in the custody of the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
At the center of last year’s trial was a notebook of lyrics allegedly stolen by Eagles biographer Ed Sanders in the late ’70s who sold it to Horowitz, a dealer of high-end rare books and private archives of writers, including Norman Mailer and Tom Wolfe.
Horowitz then sold it to Craig Inciardi, curator and director of acquisitions at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and Edward Kosinski who owns Gotta Have Rock and Roll, a memorabilia business in New Jersey.
They in turn tried to sell it back to Henley, as well as to Sotheby’s and Christie’s auction houses, claiming they received the manuscript from the late Glenn Frey.
REUTERS PHOTO
