Daryl Hall is suing his bandmate John Oates, but no one knows why

Daryl Hall has obtained a temporary restraining order against his longtime Hall & Oates bandmate John Oates after filing a mysterious lawsuit.

Details of the litigation are sealed; however, records show the lawsuit was filed in Nashville’s chancery court on Thursday 16 November.

The complaint filed by Hall, 77, also named Oates’s wife Aimee Oates and Richard Flynn in their capacities as co-trustees of The John W Oates TISA Trust.

A day later, Hall was granted a temporary restraining order against Oates, 75, after a $50,000 restraining bond was obtained.

Maria M Salas, the office’s public records request coordinator, told USA TODAY in an email Wednesday (22 November) that a hearing has been scheduled for the morning of 30 November.

The Independent has contacted representatives for Hall and Oates for comment.

Formed in Philadelphia in the 1970s, Hall & Oates have been performing as a duo as recently as last year.

Their brand of “blue-eyed soul” has scored six No 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including “Kiss on My List” and “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)”. They also achieved six platinum albums and many more Top 10 singles like “Sara Smile “and “She’s Gone.”

During a September 2022 appearance on the Club Random with Bill Maher podcast, Hall said that Oates was not his “creative partner”.

“You think John Oates is my partner? … He’s my business partner. He’s not my creative partner,” he said at the time.

“John and I are brothers, but we are not creative brothers. We are business partners,” continued Hall. “We made records called Hall & Oates together, but we’ve always been very separate, and that’s a really important thing for me.”

His comments echo those made by Oates in a 2020 interview with The Independent. “We always saw ourselves as two separate, creative individuals. Not some two-headed monster. Every record sleeve reads ‘Daryl Hall and John Oates,’” he said.

In addition to solo projects, Hall & Oates have released several albums together since their heyday and retain “a brotherly relationship and a commitment to touring – we never wanted to be stars, just successful musicians”, Oates added.