An organization set up by a famed radio producer to fund dramas won a preliminary injunction Thursday to prevent a trust and estates partner at Pryor Cashman from interfering with its finances, the group said.

Radio Drama Network, a private foundation set up by Himan Brown to fund radio dramas and educational initiatives, sued attorney Richard Kay earlier this year as part of a multipart legal effort to remove Kay from its board and gain control of assets that Radio Drama says were wrongfully diverted from Brown's estate into another entity Kay controls.

Pryor Cashman isn't a party to the lawsuit. Kay's attorneys have portrayed the cases as an effort by the Brown family to try to gain control over Himan's estate, even though he was mentally sound when he entrusted most of it to Kay, after previous litigation failed. Radio Drama has denied that's the case.

In its injunction motion, Radio Drama said Kay was validly removed from its board but refused to relinquish control over the organization's bank accounts and stood in the way of efforts to make grants, pay its legal bills and pay the salary of its sole employee, Melina Brown.

Pamela Mann, a lawyer at Carter Ledyard & Milburn who represents Radio Drama, said New York Supreme Court Justice Andrea Masley ruled in favor of her client from the bench Thursday. A transcript wasn't immediately available.

"Starting in early September, the organization had no access to its $20 million in assets," Mann said. While a temporary restraining order relieved some of the pressure, Mann said, Brown's salary was still held up, and getting Kay's approval for certain outlays was complex.

Such approval is no longer needed, Mann said: "We won everything we were asking for in the preliminary injunction." Going forward, the plan is to engage in discovery and notify banks of the decision so Radio Drama can move money among its accounts, she said.

Kay declined to comment, saying he wasn't at the argument. His lawyer Michael B. Kramer, who runs his own firm, didn't respond to comment requests Thursday and Friday.

Litigation between Kay and Radio Drama Network was initially filed in Surrogate's Court in 2016. Radio Drama filed a follow-up suit against Kay that wound up before Masley after part of the Surrogate's suit was dismissed.

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