Days after it was revealed that Daryl Hall had filed a lawsuit and been granted a temporary restraining order against his former bandmate, John Oates, the public now knows why. According to the Associated Press, Hall sued over the fact that Oates planned to sell his half of their joint venture, which he is claiming violates their business agreement.
Filed in Nashville’s Chancery Court, the judge ruled to temporarily block Oates from completing this sale, until legal proceedings are finished. It turns out the temporary restraining order was also filed for a similar reason, citing that Oates and “others involved in his trust can’t move to close the sale of their share of Whole Oats Enterprises LLP to Primary Wave IP Investment Management LLC until an arbitrator in a separately filed case weighs in on the deal, or until the judge’s order expires,” per the publication.
While the order was granted the same day Hall filed the lawsuit, a lot of the details in the filing were “under seal” and not available to the public — leaving many with still quite a few questions.
AP also points out that Primary Wave has owned a “significant interest” in the Hall & Oates song catalog for over a decade, which Hall has expressed in previous interviews that he didn’t like it being “sold off,” as he told Sky News in 2021.