Private eyes are actually prying into the inner workings of the legal rift between legendary soft-rock duo Hall and Oates.
Daryl Hall, 77, sued John Oates, 75, Oates’ wife, and one other trustee earlier this month, alleging Oates’ plan to sell his side of a three way partnership would violate their business agreement, court documents revealed.
The Nashville judge who temporarily blocked Oates’ maneuver on Wednesday ordered more documents within the case to be unsealed after the lawsuit filed under seal on Nov. 16 had obscured the small print of the case.
Now, unsealed records show that Chancellor Russell Perkins issued a brief restraining order against Oates and his trust to halt the sale of his share of Whole Oats Enterprises LLP to Primary Wave Music for 15 days or until an arbitrator makes a ruling.
The suit was first lodged after Oates performed solo shows through which he sang songs Hall took credit for writing.
Sources aware about the conflict have told TMZ that the legal battle pertains to “the bottom rules of who can sing what as a solo artist, together with money issues in fact.”
Lawyers for Hall had moved to seal certain filings of the lawsuit, arguing it’s a non-public matter between the singers, famous for 70s and 80s yacht rock hits like “You Make My Dreams (Come True)” and “Wealthy Girl.”
Although Perkins ordered a few of the filings unsealed, they didn’t reveal exactly what’s at stake within the lawsuit.
Within the suit, Hall’s lawyers claimed Oates’ and his team violated a confidentiality provision by sharing their business arrangement in a letter of intent to Primary Wave, which they are saying should legally negate the sale.
The “entire Unauthorized Transaction is the product of an indisputable breach of contract,” Hall alleged, based on filings.
The case will now be heard during a Nov. 30 court hearing.
Primary Wave has held a “significant interest” within the band’s catalog for over 15 years, the filings show.
In 2021, Hall told Sky News he was not completely happy with past arrangements, as he warned artists to carry onto their publishing rights, saying “all that you could have is that.”
“Oh, within the early days, it got sold off for me and I didn’t get the cash,” he said.
Hall and Oates met in Philadelphia within the late 60s, once they each attended Temple University. They went on to release 18 albums and notch 16 top-10 hits and 6 chart toppers, based on Billboard.
They were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.
“We’ve got this incredibly good problem of getting so many hits,” Oates said before the duo brought their show back on the road in 2021, after their tour was halted by COVID-19.
“Imagine me, it’s not a chore to play those songs because they’re really great.”
In 2015, the duo teamed as much as sue a Brooklyn-based food company that was hawking a granola snack named Haulin’ Oats.
With Post wires