Don Henley Cleared as Malicious Prosecution Lawsuit Over ‘Hotel California’ Lyrics Is Dismissed

A New York judge has dismissed a multimillion-dollar malicious prosecution lawsuit brought against Eagles co-founder Don Henley and longtime manager Irving Azoff. Rare-book dealer Glenn Horowitz filed the suit earlier this year after being charged for attempting to sell what prosecutors believed were stolen handwritten lyrics from the Eagles’ 1976 classic Hotel California.

Horowitz alleged that Henley and Azoff pressured prosecutors into pursuing charges against him and two others — former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi and auctioneer Edward Kosinski — even though, he argued, no crime had occurred. The original criminal case fell apart mid-trial last year when Henley could not produce documents proving the lyrics were stolen.

Justice Kathleen Waterman-Marshall clarified, however, that the dismissal stemmed from the defense not receiving certain information in time, not from any improper conduct by Henley or Azoff. “The dismissal was based upon the inability of Mr. Horowitz’s defense to be presented with certain information,” she said, “but there’s no finding that that information was withheld by Mr. Henley or any of the defendants for an improper purpose.”

How the Eagles Lyrics Became Evidence

The handwritten notes originally belonged to journalist Ed Sanders, who had been preparing an Eagles book in the 1970s that was never published. Sanders said Henley gave him the materials. He later sold the pages to Horowitz, who then resold them to Inciardi and Kosinski.

Henley contacted authorities after the notes appeared in auction listings, and the trio was indicted in 2022. Waterman-Marshall later ruled that prosecutors had “ample probable cause” to bring the case, noting that a grand jury indictment followed a years-long independent investigation. The documents Henley produced at trial “were not found to exculpate Mr. Horowitz,” she wrote.

Case Closed — but the Fight Isn’t Over

Prosecutors accused the three men of attempting to sell nearly 100 pages of lyrics and notes valued at more than $1 million. Henley testified that he had bought back some pages in 2012 but refused to do so again when more surfaced in later years. “I’d already been extorted once,” he said. “I wasn’t going to do it again.”

Although the lawsuit against Henley and Azoff has now been dismissed, Horowitz plans to appeal and continues to pursue a separate malicious prosecution case against the City of New York. Henley’s attorney, Dan Petrocelli, countered in a statement to Billboard that “the only malicious prosecution was Horowitz’s own lawsuit, which the court promptly and rightly dismissed.”

The ruling closes one chapter in a long-running dispute over highly collectible Eagles material — but with appeals pending, the legal and ownership questions surrounding the Hotel California notes are unlikely to fade anytime soon.