A malicious prosecution lawsuit against Don Henley and longtime Eagles manager Irving Azoff has been dismissed. Rare book dealer Glenn Horowitz sued for millions in February after being brought up on charges for trying to sell allegedly stolen lyrics from 1976’s Hotel California.
Horowitz claimed Henley and Azoff had manipulated New York prosecutors into charging him and two other men – former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi and rock auctioneer Edward Kosinski — even though they were innocent. The case was abruptly thrown out during trial last year after Henley failed to produce evidence that showed whether the lyrics had been stolen in the first place.
The New York County Supreme Court judge presiding over Horowitz’s subsequent civil court proceeding made a clear distinction about that shocking turn of events: The earlier “dismissal was based upon the inability of Mr. Horowitz’s defense to be presented with certain information,” Justice Kathleen Waterman-Marshall said, “but there’s no finding that that information was withheld by Mr. Henley or any of the defendants for an improper purpose.”
How Did the Eagles Lyrics Originally Go Missing?
The handwritten notes had originally been in the possession of journalist Ed Sanders, whose proposed ’70s-era Eagles book went unpublished. He said Henley gave them to him. Sanders then allegedly sold the papers to Horowitz, who then reportedly sold them to Inciardi and Kosinski.
Henley complained when he found the lyrics in auction listings and the trio was indicted in 2022. Henley and Azoff both argued that the criminal case that followed had merit and was simply dismissed on a technicality. Justice Waterman-Marshall agreed.
“There was ample probable cause for the DA to bring a case against Mr. Horowitz. Indeed, a grand jury indicted Mr. Horowitz based upon the DA’s independent and years-long investigation,” Waterman-Marshall wrote. “The dismissal of the case at trial after complainant Henley produced documents — none of which were found to exculpate Mr. Horowitz — did not result from any bad faith conduct on the part of the defendants and, thus, does not change this result.”
Don Henley during a classic-era Eagles concert. (Redferns, Getty Images)
Will the Decision in the Eagles Lawsuit Be Appealed?
Horowitz, Inciardi and Kosinski were accused of conspiring to sell nearly 100 pages of allegedly stolen Eagles lyrics and Henley’s handwritten notes, which were collectively valued at more than $1 million. Henley testified three times in February 2024 in a Manhattan courtroom, revealing that he bought back some of the pages in 2012 but declined to do so when more pages surfaced in 2014 and 2016.
“I’d already been extorted once,” Henley said during the first day of testimony. “I wasn’t going to do it again.”
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The three defendants had each been charged with one count of conspiracy in the fourth degree, which carried a maximum sentence of four years in prison. Horowitz was separately accused of first-degree attempted criminal possession of stolen property, as well as two counts of hindering prosecution. Inciardi and Kosinski were charged with first-degree counts of criminal possession, as well.
Horowitz’s lawyer says they will appeal Waterman-Marshall’s decision. (He still has a pending malicious prosecution lawsuit moving forward against the city of New York.) Meanwhile, Henley’s attorney Dan Petrocelli told Billboard that “the only malicious prosecution was Horowitz’s own lawsuit, which the court promptly and rightly dismissed.”
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Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
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