Daryl Hall has been given a restraining order against John Oates
Last week, the singer lodged a lawsuit against his ex-bandmate.
Daryl Hall has taken legal action against his former music partner John Oates, leading to a restraining order amid a confidential legal conflict.
The details emerged when Axios Nashville reporter Nate Rau tweeted last week (November 17) that the iconic duo Hall & Oates were entangled in a secretive legal battle. Daryl Hall lodged a lawsuit against John Oates in Nashville Chancery Court, with all related filings currently kept confidential.
Rau mentioned, “The heart of the dispute seems to revolve around a business trust, according to the captions on the filings in the chancery clerk’s system.”
Very little information regarding the lawsuit is available to the public due to it being sealed. Philadelphia magazine delved deeper into the matter, providing additional details and linking the lawsuit listing on the Nashville chancery court website. According to their report, Hall filed an undisclosed complaint against Oates on November 16, alongside a motion for a temporary restraining order. The court granted the temporary restraining order, set to take effect on November 30.
Reported by Ultimate Classic Rock, Hall filed the suit in his official capacity as trustee of the Daryl Hall Revocable Trust. The lawsuit named Oates and fellow co-trustees Aimee Oates and Richard Flynn from the John W. Oates TISA Trust as defendants. Summons were issued on November 20, following the sealing of the proceedings on November 16.
Variety confirmed the lawsuit with the Nashville Chancery Court but refrained from commenting further due to the sealed nature of the lawsuit.
Neither Hall nor Oates have made any public statements regarding the lawsuit.
Daryl Hall and John Oates, renowned as the musical duo Hall & Oates, first crossed paths in an elevator at the Adelphi Ballroom in 1967. Since then, they joined forces to establish Hall & Oates and have achieved significant success, boasting 29 Top 40 hits and eight platinum albums. Their repertoire includes beloved classics such as ‘I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)’, ‘You Make My Dreams’, ‘Maneater’, ‘Rich Girl’, ‘Private Eyes’, and ‘Kiss On My List’.
Their relationship has always been rather peculiar. Back in 1985, Rolling Stone portrayed it as “strange,” with journalist Lynn Hirschberg noting that Hall and Oates were “a mix of business partners and brothers.” According to Hirschberg, Hall didn’t appear to particularly fancy Oates, while Oates seemed somewhat detached from the entirety of the Hall and Oates establishment.
Fast forward to 2014 when Hall addressed their relationship to The Guardian, stating, “We get along just fine. We weren’t — and aren’t — very much alike: we have different interests. But the differences aren’t significant; what truly matters is our shared passion for music.”
Oates added his perspective, saying, “Daryl and I are more like siblings than friends. We’re quite dissimilar as individuals, but we share this immensely strong musical connection. He’s driven by creative dissatisfaction, which propels him forward. He’s incredibly astute and, in my opinion, possesses one of the finest popular voices ever.”
In other news, this July, Hall took the stage at the 2023 BST Hyde Park festival as the opening act for the special guest headliner, Billy Joel.
