White Plains cemetery seeks finality in three burials

White Plains Rural Cemetery expects to be paid in full for its services by the time bodies are buried, but it has been waiting for months to make the final deposits from a Mount Vernon funeral home.

The cemetery is demanding $15,780 from Camelot Funeral Home Inc. for three burials, in a complaint filed Nov. 8 in Westchester Supreme Court.

Camelot owner Michael Naughton said in a brief telephone interview that the 10-month dispute was just a mix-up with his bank that he expects to be resolved soon.

The nondenominational cemetery on North Broadway has been in business since 1854. Camelot Funeral Home was formed in 1976, according to state corporation records. Naughton, of Baldwin, Nassau County, bought the business in 2020.

This past January, February and May, Camelot made arrangements for burial plots and interment services for three individuals, at $5,000 to $5,350 per occasion.

Camelot paid with checks. But after depositing the first two checks, the cemetery was notified that the funeral home bank account had insufficient funds. After receiving the third check, the complaint states, funeral director Andy Anderson advised the cemetery not to deposit it because there were insufficient funds to honor the check.

To date, White Plains Rural Cemetery says, it has not been paid for the three burial plots and services, according to the complaint presented by White Plains attorney Robert W. Cushing

Naughton said his bank account was compromised because the previous owner’s name had not been taken off the bank account and tax documents.

The mix-up should be cleared up in a few days, he said, and “we still have a relationship with the cemetery.”