More details in the legal battle between Daryl Hall and John Oates have been revealed ahead of a court on the matter hearing scheduled for today (11/30). Billboard obtained an unsealed declaration filed by Hall:
In his declaration, Hall called Oates’ agreement to sell to Primary Wave a “completely clandestine and bad faith move in blatant violation” of their agreement, which he said clearly requires full consent from both partners.
“John Oates and the Co-Trustees engaged in the ultimate partnership betrayal,” Hall wrote. “They surreptitiously sought to sell half of the WOE assets without obtaining my written approval.”
Hall writes that he was “blindsided” when he first discovered Oates’ planned sale of the duo’s joint venture to Primary Wave in October, and it caused him “tremendous upheaval, harm, and difficulty in my life,” coming as he was about to leave for a tour and amid mediation the two were undergoing on other issues. “I believe that John Oates timed the unauthorized transaction to create the most harm to me,” Hall continued, adding that he had “no intention of becoming partners with Primary Wave” and Oates couldn’t “thrust a new partner upon me in this outrageous fashion.”
Hall also called the idea of “being forced into a partnership with Primary Wave without my consent” “incredibly upsetting,” and wrote, “There is no amount of money that could compensate me for being forced to partner with an entity that I did not agree to partner with, and whose business model does not comport with my views regarding the WOE assets. The harm is unimaginable.”
More from Billboard:
Hall also revealed that the dispute came amid a broader “divorce” with Oates. His former partner had recently become “adversarial and aggressive” and intended to “burden and harass me.” Eventually, they began discussing a dissolution of their touring company and other joint ventures. But he says that Oates never once discussed selling his share in Whole Oats Enterprises, the joint venture at issue in the case.
“John Oates was very combative and protective with respect to WOE, and consistently conveyed his desire to keep his ownership and that partnership intact and operative—there was never a hint that he would try to ambush me with a sale,” Hall wrote.
Billboard also obtained a statement filed by Oates in response, where he writes that he is “tremendously disappointed” that Hall had made “inflammatory, outlandish, and inaccurate statements about me.”
“I have no idea who or what is motivating Daryl to take these steps and make such salacious statements, but I am deeply hurt,” Oates continued, adding, “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.”
Find more details from both filings on Billboard.