Daryl Hall obtains temporary restraining order against bandmate John Oates

Hall & Oates in 1980 — (Image credit: Lynn Goldsmith/Corbis/VCG)

Pop rock duo Hall & Oates are at the centre of a lawsuit in Nashville.

Details of the litigation – which is listed as a "contract/debt" dispute – are sealed, but court records show that Hall filed for a temporary restraining order against his bandmate on November 16, and the Nashville Chancery Court granted it the following day. It will begin on November 30.

Hall & Oates' last album was 2006's Home for Christmas, but the duo have toured together many times in the years since, most recently in October 2022. The previous month, Daryl Hall appeared as a guest on Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast, where he claimed that John Oates was a business associate rather than a creative partner.

“John and I are brothers, but we are not creative brothers," said Hall. "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."

In previous Hall & Oates legal news, the duo launched legal action against Brooklyn-based granola producers Early Bird in 2016, after they began marketing a breakfast cereal called Haulin’ Oats.

“The name and mark Haulin’ Oats is an obvious play upon Plaintiff’s well-known Hall & Oates mark, and was selected by defendant in an effort to trade off of the fame and notoriety associated with the artist’s and plaintiff’s well-known marks," the suit claimed.

The product has since been removed from the company's website.

Last week King Crimson leader Robert Fripp appeared on an episode of Daryl Hall's long-running web series Live From Daryl's House, and joined Hall and his band for live performances of several songs including King Crimson's Red.

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.