Eagles lead singer and drummer Don Henley reportedly filed a lawsuit on Friday to get his handwritten lyrics to “Hotel California” back.
Henry claims the documents were stolen. He filed the lawsuit after prosecutors dropped charges against three collectors who were allegedly trying to sell the documents.
“These 100-page personal lyric cards belong to Mr. Henry and his family, and Mr. Henry has never authorized the defendants or anyone else to sell the lyric cards for commercial purposes,” said Daniel Petrocelli, Mr. Henry's attorney. (Related: Eagles close final curtain on resident show at Las Vegas Sphere: Report)
The documents are kept in the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, according to the lawsuit.
Don Henley files lawsuit seeking return of 'Hotel California' lyric sheet
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Sean Crowley, an attorney representing one of the defendants, told the Associated Press that Henry was “desperate to rewrite history” and that he “looks forward to taking this matter to litigation and holding Mr. Henry accountable for his repeated lies and abuse of the justice system.”
Defense lawyers argued that the singer gave the documents to a writer who was working on an Eagles biography that was never published, and that the writer later allegedly sold the documents to one of the defendants.
The judge presiding over the case said the lawyers had used attorney-client privilege to conceal potentially “damaging” information in order to manipulate prosecutors.
