Daryl Hall has won the opening salvo in his sudden legal battle against his bandmate John Oates. Today (Nov. 30), a Nashville judge extended until February a restraining order preventing Oates from selling his share of the duo’s joint venture to Primary Wave, amid Hall’s allegations of breach of contract. A private arbitrator has been assigned to hear the case.
According to Billboard, Chancellor Russell Perkins said Hall could face “irreparable harm” if a sale occured before his claims about a violation of the partnership deal could be heard.
“If the transfer goes forward before the arbitrator has an opportunity to consider and rule upon plaintiffs’ application for interim injunctive relief in the arbitration, then it could, as a practical matter, render much of the relief Plaintiffs are seeking in the arbitration ineffectual,” Perkins wrote.
Hall said in a legal filing that Oates must “be stopped from this latest wrongdoing and [have] his malicious conduct reined in once and for all.” In a declaration of his own, Oates called the accusations “inflammatory, outlandish and inaccurate.” “I can only say that Daryl’s accusations that I breached our agreement, went ‘behind’ his back, ‘acted in bad faith,’ and the like, are not true,” he said.
Hall, 77, and Oates, 75, last performed together in October 2022, and Hall has spent the past two years touring solo and promoting his Oates-less back catalog. Asked in a Jan. 2022 interview if the duo might record new music, he said, “No, I have no plans on that at all. I’ve changed direction. A lot of factors have come up, the pandemic being one of them. I think it’s time for me to get my due when it comes to the solo songs and solo albums. I’m going to give it a shot and see what happens.”
