Judge Rules in Favor of Diocese in Fight Over $750,000 Gift

A six-year legal battle over a parishioner's three-quarters-of-a-million-dollar gift to a Roman Catholic church in Northampton, Massachusetts, closed by the diocese has been decided in favor of the diocese.

A probate judge ruled recently that the late Irene Kuzontkoski's gift to St. Mary's of the Assumption should go to the Diocese of Springfield.

A diocesan official says the money will be given to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton church, because that's where most St. Mary's parishioners went when their church was closed in 2009.

Kuzontkoski died in 2009 at age 83 just before St. Mary's was closed.

Members of the St. Mary's finance council filed a motion saying they should have a say in where the money went.

One of those finance council members says he is considering an appeal.