Access to a Westfield cemetery owned by St. Dominic Roman Catholic Church will be decided in state Supreme Court in Mayville.

The church and the Diocese of Buffalo have filed a civil lawsuit against Scott Wingerter of Westfield over access to the St. James Union Street Extension Cemetery. The diocese acquired the property in February 1878, according to documentation provided as part of the lawsuit, and conferred maintenance and oversight of the property to St. James Major Roman Catholic Church Society of Westfield.

According to the court filing, in 2022 a chain was put across a driveway to the cemetery. Later, a gate was built. Both, diocese officials say, interfere with maintenance of the cemetery and visitors to the cemetery.

“The chains and now a gate are a barrier across the adjacent property and the entrance of the ‘cemetery’ and extending even past the entrance,” attorney James Spann of Westfield wrote. “Such has interfered with and prevented plaintiff, St. Dominic, from maintaining the cemetery and prevents relatives of those buried in the cemetery from gaining access to the grave sites. Upon information and belief, the defendant undertook the placement of a barrier at the entrance to the cemetery with the intent and knowledge that it would interfere with the access to it and the maintenance of the same.”

Diocese officials said they sent letters to Wingerter in 2022 and 2023, but the chains and gates have further encroached into the cemetery.

Church officials are asking state Supreme Court Justice Grace Hanlon to order the chain and gate to be removed, order there to be no further actions that create a trespass or nuisance to the cemetery and to award damages to the church.

“The plaintiffs hereby request a declaration of adverse possession of the ‘driveway portion’ along the north side of the boundary line of the cemetery property as shown on the survey annexed hereto as Exhibit B,” Spann wrote. “The plaintiffs and the relatives of those who are buried in the cemetery have used said driveway portion for over 100 years. The use of same has been continuous and uninterrupted during that time.”

St. Dominic’s currently serves the Westfield and Brocton areas, though under a recently announced reorganizational plan by the Buffalo Diocese the Brocton site will close with the Westfield site remaining open.