Eagles co-founder Don Henley has filed a civil lawsuit in Manhattan seeking to recover his original handwritten lyrics and notes from the 'Hotel California' album. The legal action follows the dismissal of criminal charges against three collectibles dealers who were accused of attempting to sell the documents.

The 100-page manuscript, currently in the custody of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office, is at the center of a complex ownership dispute. Henley's lawyer, Daniel Petrocelli, argues these personal lyric sheets belong to Henley and his family, who never authorized their sale.

The lawsuit names two defendants: Craig Inciardi, a former Rock & Roll Hall of Fame curator, and Edward Kosinski, a rock memorabilia dealer. Glenn Horowitz, a rare books dealer previously involved in the criminal case, is not named in the civil suit as he makes no claim to ownership.

Defense attorneys contend that Henley gave the manuscript to a writer for an unrealized Eagles biography decades ago, after which it was legitimately sold to Horowitz, who then sold it to Inciardi and Kosinski. Some pages were put up for auction in 2012.

The criminal case was dismissed in March after Judge Curtis Farber determined that Henley had withheld information from prosecutors. The case was complicated by the late disclosure of over 6,000 pages of communications between Henley and his legal team.

Defense lawyers Shawn Crowley and Stacey Richman have called the new lawsuit "baseless" and plan to counter-sue Henley for what they describe as "repeated lies and misuse of the justice system."

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