I wish we could “say it isn’t so,” but it looks like the partnership between Montgomery County natives Daryl Hall and John Oates is rapidly dissolving, according to Jamie McGee and Julia Jacobs at The New York Times.

In a hearing in front of a Nashville judge, new details have come to light on why the famous duo are at odds. Neither of the musicians were present at the hearing.

At the heart of the matter is Oates’ decision to sell his portion of one of their business partnerships without Hall’s approval. Hall wanted to block the sale until a separate arbitration process between the two musicians was resolved.

Chancellor Russell T. Perkins granted the request to prevent Oates from finalizing the sale agreement until either there is an arbitration agreement or until Feb. 17.

In the legal papers filed, Hall had cited a series of business disagreements with Oates in recent years.

“I am deeply troubled by the deteriorating of my relationship with, and trust in, John Oates,” Hall wrote in a court filing.

He called Oates’s actions the “ultimate partnership betrayal”.

Oates’s lawyer maintained on Thursday that his client wasn’t going behind his partner’s back and that he had the right to make the deal.

Read more about the legal dispute between Daryll Hall and John Oates in The New York Times.

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