SELAH, Wash. >> An appeals court says a piano teacher in Washington state deserved the $40,000 she was awarded in a dispute with a neighbor who revved his pickup truck engine for months to drown out the sound of her lessons.

The Yakima Herald-Republic reports the appeals court ruled Tuesday that Junghee Kim Spicer’s Yakima Arts Academy was entitled to the payment from her neighbor.

The inharmonious relationship started in 2012, court records say, when Spicer increased the number of piano lessons she gave.

From November 2015 through March 2016, Paul Patnode parked his diesel truck next to Spicer’s home, and remotely raced the engine and set off the vehicle’s alarm when students arrived.

Spicer sued Patnode and Yakima County Superior Court Judge Gayle Harthcock ordered Patnode to pay $40,000 for emotional distress.