Don Henley beats malicious prosecution suit following Eagles lyric theft trial
Eagles’ Don Henley has beaten the prosecution suit against him following the infamously complex case about supposedly stolen lyrics.
Three men were charged in 2022 with stealing handwritten lyrics to ‘Hotel California’. Glenn Horowitz, one of the three defendants, then announced he was suing Henley and his manager.
The civil suit, also filed against the band’s manager, Irving Azoff, accused the pair of malicious prosecution, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and more.
Initially, Ed Sanders stole the lyrics for ‘Hotel California’, ‘Life in the Fast Lane’, and ‘New Kind in Town’ in the 1970s after being hired to write a biography on Henley and the band. Following this, in 2005, he sold them to rare books dealer Horowitz, who paid $1million. These were then sold on to Edward Kosinski and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi.
In 2022, all three men were charged, and Inciardi was suspended from his position while awaiting trial. Nonetheless, things changed again when emails between Don Henley, Eagles manager Irving Azoff, and their attorney proved they were aware that Sanders had legally obtained the lyric sheets. This case was then dismissed.
However, Horowitz claimed he never recovered from the ordeal. His case claimed that he “was deprived of his liberty and suffered humiliation, defamation, media harassment, diminished reputation, loss of business and/or loss of wages amounting to more than ten million dollars ($10,000,000.00), in addition to mental anguish, indignity, frustration and financial loss.”
It was this case that was recently dismissed. Delivering the news, Kathleen Waterman-Marshall said the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office had “ample probable cause” to pursue a criminal case against Horowitz, noting that a grand jury had indicted him “based upon the DA’s independent and years-long investigation.”
Referencing the documents that initially led to the trial’s abandonment, Waterman-Marshall stated that none of the documents “were found to exculpate” Horowitz.
Importantly, the release of the e-mails and such did not “result from any bad faith conduct on the part of the defendants.”
She added: “There’s no finding that that information was withheld by Mr. Henly or any of the Defendants for an improper purpose.”
Horowitz’s lawyer, Caitlin Robin, has stressed that they will appeal and “are moving to renew and reargue the judge’s dismissal against Don Henley and Irving Azoff.” At the time of writing, Horowitz is still pursuing a malicious prosecution suit against the city of New York.
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