Don Henley and his longtime supervisor Irving Azoff are being sued by one of many males who was criminally charged — and later vindicated — for allegedly trying to promote handwritten lyrics related to the Eagles‘ 1976 album Resort California, claiming they and their attorneys engaged in a “malicious prosecution” that harmed his repute and prompted him monetary losses and emotional misery.
The grievance, filed in New York state courtroom on Thursday (Feb. 6), was filed in opposition to Henley, Azoff and the corporations that represented them of their case: Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and Loeb & Loeb. In it, Horowitz claims the events falsely alleged that he and his two co-defendants within the felony case “knew or had motive to imagine” that the lyric sheets “had been unlawfully obtained” and nonetheless tried to revenue off of them through a web-based public sale. Nevertheless, Horowitz claims the boys and their attorneys knew all alongside that the notes had been acquired via authorized means within the first place.
Horowitz, a uncommon guide supplier, and his co-defendants — Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame curator Craig Inciardi and memorabilia auctioneer Edward Kosinski — had been criminally charged in 2022 over an alleged conspiracy to resell the lyrics that had been handwritten by Henley whereas engaged on the Eagles’ iconic Resort California album. On the time, prosecutors had accused the three males of hiding the truth that the paperwork had been stolen from Henley’s dwelling by Ed Sanders, a journalist employed by Henley and Azoff to write down a never-published guide on the Eagles within the late Nineteen Seventies.
However in a gorgeous turnaround in March 2024, Manhattan prosecutors dropped the case after Henley produced new proof beforehand withheld underneath attorney-client privilege that solid doubt on his and Azoff’s allegations. The decide within the case subsequently dismissed the fees and chastised Henley, Azoff and their attorneys for “obfuscat[ing] and hid[ing] info that they believed can be damaging to their place that the lyric sheets had been stolen.”
In keeping with Horowitz’s lawyer Caitlin Robin, the proof cited by prosecutors and the decide in dropping the fees — a collection of emails between Henley, Azoff and their attorneys — proves they had been conscious that Sanders had legally obtained the lyric sheets in the midst of writing the never-published Eagles guide. Nonetheless, she alleges they “purposefully withheld any disclosure thereof as a result of they knew it might exculpate Plaintiff GLENN HOROWITZ and primarily destroy the fraudulent allegations they made about him.”
Because of his “unjust prosecution,” Horowitz claims he “was disadvantaged of his liberty and suffered humiliation, defamation, media harassment, diminished repute, lack of enterprise and/or lack of wages amounting in additional than ten million {dollars} ($10,000,000.00), along with psychological anguish, indignity, frustration and monetary loss.” The grievance additional alleges that Horowitz’s spouse Tracey (who’s listed as a co-plaintiff) additionally “suffered humiliation, defamation, media harassment, diminished repute, and psychological and emotional anguish” because of her husband’s prosecution.
In an announcement despatched to Billboard, Henley and Azoff’s lawyer Dan Petrocelli stated, “Don Henley was a witness and a sufferer in a felony trial introduced by the Manhattan District Legal professional after a proper indictment of Glenn Horowitz by a New York grand jury. The indictment highlighted the darkish underbelly of the memorabilia enterprise that exploited the brazen, unauthorized taking and promoting of Mr. Henley’s handwritten lyrics. The one malicious prosecution concerned right here is the submitting of this case by Mr. Horowitz.”
The Horowitzes are asking for damages “in extra of the jurisdictional limits of all of the decrease Courts of the State of New York.”
Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and Loeb & Loeb didn’t instantly reply to Billboard‘s requests for remark.
