Don Henley Sued by means of Uncommon-Books Broker in Eagles Stolen Lyrics Dispute

A unprecedented-books broker up to now accused of seeking to promote stolen copies of handwritten Eagles lyrics has filed a lawsuit of his personal in opposition to Don Henley and supervisor Irving Azoff. 

Glenn Horowitz used to be considered one of 3 defendants who confronted prison fees final 12 months for conspiring to own stolen assets — on this case, over 100 pages of drafts of songs from the Eagles’ Lodge California, written by means of Henley and Glenn Frey. When a few of the ones pages have been regarded as for public sale all over the 2010s, Henley claimed they have been stolen, taking the case to the New york District Lawyer’s Place of work, which in the end indicted Horowitz and the opposite two defendants in summer season 2022.

Closing 12 months, the case in the end went to trial, however 3 weeks into it, the prosecutors dropped the fees, pronouncing new data had come to mild and pointing out their “self belief within the deserves of this example isn’t sufficient.” Henley has since filed a civil go well with of his personal to retain ownership of the lyrics (which stay within the custody of the DA’s place of work). And now Horowitz is suing Henley, claiming he knew all alongside that the lyrics weren’t stolen and deliberately concealed this data from the government. 

Horowitz’s lawsuit particularly accuses Henley, Azoff, and their prison representatives of malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional misery, and extra. He is looking for punitive damages to be made up our minds at trial. 

A attorney for Horowitz, Caitlin Robin, up to now informed The Impartial, “Glenn is taking a look ahead to his day in courtroom. He already cleared his identify when the fees in opposition to him have been brushed aside but it surely’s time to carry the ones accountable who have been focused on his malicious prosecution.” 

Dan Petrocelli, a attorney for Henley and Azoff, informed Rolling Stone, “Don Henley used to be a witness and a sufferer in a prison trial introduced by means of the New york District Lawyer after a proper indictment of Glenn Horowitz by means of a New York grand jury. The indictment highlighted the darkish underbelly of the memorabilia trade that exploited the brazen, unauthorized taking and promoting of Mr. Henley’s handwritten lyrics. The one malicious prosecution concerned this is the submitting of this example by means of Mr. Horowitz.” (Reps for the 2 legislation corporations that Horowitz additionally sued — Loeb and Loeb and Manatt, Phelps & Phillips — didn’t straight away go back a request for remark.)

The saga of the handwritten Lodge California lyrics dates again to the past due Nineteen Seventies, when the Eagles shrunk the author Ed Sanders to write down a biography in regards to the band. Sanders used to be given an array of study subject material for the ebook, together with the notepads with the lyrics. Whilst the ebook used to be scrapped only one 12 months later, Sanders reportedly held onto the analysis subject material for greater than twenty years. 

In step with Horowitz’s new go well with, in 2005, he and trade spouse John McWhinnie bought the handwritten lyrics from Sanders. Over the following a number of years, the lyrics have been purchased and bought a couple of occasions, with Horowitz and McWhinnie at all times concerned; ultimately, in 2012, the lyrics ended up within the arms of former Rock & Roll Corridor of Popularity curator Craig Inciardi and rock memorabilia broker Edward Kosinski. At this level, Horowitz claims, his association with the lyrics used to be “terminated” and “by no means to be reassumed.” 

It used to be after Inciardi and Kosinski attempted to position excerpts from the lyrics up for public sale that Henley become concerned. In step with Horowitz’s go well with, Henley’s attorney reached out to Kosinski about promoting one of the vital notepads again to Henley. A gross sales settlement for one notepad used to be drawn up and carried out in April 2012 for $8,500. In courtroom, Henley testified that he resented “purchasing my very own assets again” however informed the courtroom that it used to be “essentially the most sensible and expedient means” to take away the public sale list. In doing so, Horowitz claims, Henley and others  “each implicitly and explicitly known the legitimacy of the handwritten lyrics as neither counterfeit nor stolen.” 

On the identical time, alternatively, the lawsuit claims that Henley filed a file with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Division  “through which he falsely alleged” that the papers “constituted stolen assets and [were] unlawfully within the ownership of Ed Kosinski and Craig Inciardi.”

In step with the go well with, Inciardi and Kosinski stored seeking to promote the lyric sheets over the following few years, and Henley stored seeking to prevent them. After the musician, with the assistance of Azoff, attempted to dam a sale of the “Lodge California” draft lyrics in 2016, the New york DA’s place of work were given concerned. (Kosinski and Inciardi have been the 2 different co-defendants within the eventually-abandoned prison case.)

Horowitz claims that Henley “knew or must have identified” that Horowitz “lawfully owned and possessed the handwritten lyrics as of 2005 and lawfully exercised his proper of sale thereof in 2012.” Nonetheless, the go well with continues, Henley “pursued and materially assisted tin the graduation and continuation of prison court cases in opposition to [Horowitz] by means of making false remark to legislation government… with malicious intent to wrongfully imrpison him and motive hostile exposure to his trade.” 

Henley, for his phase, has at all times maintained that the notepads have been his assets. He claimed that the contract Sanders signed stipulated that each one “fabrics” given to him for his analysis remained the valuables of the Eagles, which means he had no proper to promote them. 

When Henley testified on the prison trial final 12 months, he informed the courtroom: “There’s no tape or file any place the place I say, ‘Mr. Sanders, you’re unfastened to stay this stuff in perpetuity, and also you’re unfastened to promote them.’” He later added, “I had a common sense working out that [Sanders] would go back the fabric when he used to be carried out with it.”