Don Henley Files Lawsuit to Regain Ownership of ‘Hotel California’ Lyric Sheets
variety.comSteven J. Horowitz Senior Music Writer After a previous trial over stolen manuscripts came to an abrupt halt in March, Don Henley has filed a lawsuit to recover those personal Eagles sheets, which contain the lyrics to “Hotel California” and other hits.
In his new suit, the Eagles frontman is seeking a declaratory judgment affirming his ownership over roughly 100 pages of his personal and handwritten lyric sheets.
Those sheets were the subject of an indictment against three men in July 2022, with a trial that began in late February but ceased weeks later after prosecution dropped its case against the defendants upon discovering “damaging” fresh disclosures. “Don Henley has filed suit today in a New York federal court for return of property that was stolen from him — his private handwritten notes and lyrics to the iconic songs from the Hotel California album,” said Henley’s attorney, Daniel Petrocelli, in a statement to Variety. “These 100 pages of personal lyric sheets belong to Mr.
Henley and his family, and he has never authorized defendants or anyone else to peddle them for profit.” The lyric sheets at the focus of the suit are currently in possession of the New York County District Attorney, which was investigating how defendants Edward Kosinski and Craig Inciardi took hold of them.
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