Bengies Owner Appeals Decision to Toss Jury Verdict

The owner of Bengies Drive-In Theatre in Middle River plans appealing this month's ruling by a Baltimore County judge setting aside a jury award in his suit against a nearby Royal Farms store, The Baltimore Sun reports.

The suit is part of a longstanding legal dispute between owner D. Edward Vogel and the store. He asserted lights from the store located across Eastern Boulevard interfered with the 56-year-old drive-in theater, and stifle his plans to expand.. The jury verdict handed down in June was based on the cost of erecting a wall along Eastern Boulevard to block light from the theater.

The Sun reports that Judge Robert Cahill tossed the $838,000 award, writing that the lights are "not aimed, directed or oriented towards the Bengies property" and that "no special protections can be accorded the business as a consequence of the fact that it is light-sensitive."

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