Earlier this week, Daryl Hall filed a lawsuit against John Oates in Nashville. The terms of the suit are currently under seal. Additionally, the court granted Hall a temporary restraining order against his longtime musical partner.
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Nate Rau, a journalist for Axios Nashville, posted about the suit on Friday (November 17). “Members of the beloved pop rock duo Hall & Oates are locked in mysterious litigation,” he wrote. “Daryl Hall filed a lawsuit yesterday against John Oates in Nashville Chancery Court,” Rau added.
The suit is classified as a “contract/debt” matter, according to Philadelphia Magazine. The suit names Hall in official capacity as Trustee of the Daryl Hall Revocable Trust as plaintiff in the suit. It names Aimee Oates in official capacity as co-trustee of the John W. Oates TISA Trust as well as John Oates as defendants. However, Hall filed the suit under seal. As a result, the public probably won’t know the details of the litigation until someone makes a statement about it.
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Many fans may think of Hall and Oates as partners and friends. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case. For instance, Hall appeared on Bill Mahr’s podcast last year. During the conversation, he revealed the reality of their relationship. “I don’t have a partner. You think John Oates is my partner? He’s my business partner. He is not my creative partner,” Hall explained. “John and I are brothers, but we are not creative brothers,” he added. “We are business partners. We made records called Hall & Oates together, but we’ve always been very separate, and that’s a really important thing for me.”
This isn’t a new development, though. A 1985 Rolling Stone article described their relationship as strange. “Hall doesn’t seem to really like Oates,” it stated. The article also said that Hall seemed “distant” from the duo. With his more recent comments about their partnership, it doesn’t seem that much has changed over the nearly four decades since the article’s publication.
Only time will tell what this means for the duo moving forward. However, Hall & Oates haven’t done much in recent years. In fact, their last album of new material was Do It for Love (2003). Hall currently runs the web series Live from Daryl’s House.
(Featured Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images)
