Iconic pop duo Hall & Oates are locked in a secret legal battle being kept far from the public gaze under court orders.
What is known is Daryl Hall has filed a temporary restraining order against John Oates however the details of the dispute are sealed by the court.
On November 16, Hall filed legal proceedings again Oates in Nashville, Tennessee.
Specifics of the case are under seal, but court records publicly available on the Nashville Chancery website outline some of the details pertaining to the action.
The case is listed as a “Contract/Debt” case.
File/Singers Hall and Oates perform at Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Illinois, November 5, 1981. (Paul Natkin/Getty Images)
It lists Oates as a defendant, as well as his wife Aimee Oates and Richard Flynn, all co-trustees of the John W Oates TISA Trust.
It shows Hall filed a motion for a temporary restraining order on November 16, which was granted the next day.
The restraining bond was set at $US50,000.
Then, on November 20, summons orders were issued to Oates, his wife and Mr Flynn as well as an order “clarifying the scope of temporary seal order”.
It says no hearing date has been requested.
The Hollywood Reporter states a lawyer for Hall and a rep for Oates didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither side has commented on the situation.
File/Musical guests Daryl Hall and John Oates perform on February 22, 2016 , edition of THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON. (Andrew Lipovsky/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
The report sets out in 2014, Hall & Oates were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
They stand among the best-selling duos of all time, with 29 hit songs starting in the mid-1970s through the early ’90s. The two toured together last year, though each has also pursued a solo recording career.
The current legal battle is not the first time the pair have sought redress through the legal system.
In 2015 they announced they were suing a New York-based food company for trademark infringement, claiming Early Bird Foods & Co. is using a “phonetic play on Daryl Hall and John Oates’ well-known brand name.”
Early Bird’s Haulin’ Oats granola, the defendant in the Brooklyn, NY lawsuit, claimed the product creates an “out-of-this-world delicious, wholesome and nourishing small batch granola and other foods by hand.”