Yale clearly has the upper hand here. Let’s hope they can work things out with Toads. (The club.)

FOX News has the story.

Yale University locks horns with renowned nightclub in property-line dispute

Yale University has produced Nobel Prize winners, Supreme Court justices and presidents. Nearby, a nightclub called Toad’s Place has landed musical legends such as the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Count Basie and U2.

But after years of fighting, Yale and Toads can’t find what they’re looking for in a dispute over a walkway. And if Toad’s can’t get any satisfaction, the popular hangout for generations of Yale students and others could close.

Yale’s new president, Peter Salovey, plays the double bass and sings with “The Professors of Bluegrass,” a group he and several colleagues and students created more than 20 years ago, so the club is hoping he’ll be sympathetic. The corporate attorney for Toad’s, Jim Segaloff, quipped recently: “We would guarantee him a gig every Thursday night if we can work this out.”

Toad’s has been an asset to New Haven for many years, as has Yale in a much different vein, Segaloff said. Yale’s attempt to effectively close Toad’s down seems “unwarranted and unnecessary,” he said.

Yale denies it’s trying to close Toads.

The dispute involves a walkway next to Toad’s that leads to the campus. Toad’s says it needs access to the walkway from its side entrance for emergency purposes.

Yale says there was an agreement in place for 30 years in which it voluntarily allowed Toad’s and its employees and patrons to access Yale’s property in case of an emergency only. Yale said it proposed another agreement lasting 10 years, but Toad’s contends it does not need Yale’s permission to use Yale’s property.

Toad’s says Yale’s proposal wouldn’t work in case it needs to get a loan or sell the place. Toad’s disputes the property line and contends it has rights to the walkway after so many years of using it.