Daryl Hall and John Oates went to court in Nashville today to begin hashing out their dispute over Oates’ plan to sell his stake in their joint venture — a plan that Hall described in legal filings as a “betrayal” strategically timed to maximize harm.

As Billboard reports, Chancellor Russell Perkins, the judge overseeing the case, ruled that Oates cannot sell his share of the duo’s company Whole Oates Enterprises, LLP to the music publisher Primary Wave until February or until an arbitrator can hear Hall’s case, whichever comes first.

In a written decision, Perkins wrote that Hall might face “irreparable harm,” as Hall claims, if the sale goes through without giving Hall the chance to prove it violates the terms of his agreement with Oates. “If the transfer goes forward before the arbitrator has an opportunity to consider and rule upon plaintiffs’ application for interim injunctive relief in the arbitration, then it could, as a practical matter, render much of the relief plaintiffs are seeking in the arbitration ineffectual,” Perkins wrote.

Hall filed a private arbitration case in early November, but he separately filed this restraining order last week because he feared the sale would be finalized before the arbitrator could hear the case.