Two of Paul Newman’s daughters sued the Newman’s Own Foundation, saying its leaders have strayed from their late father’s wishes and limited their involvement in its charitable giving, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The nonprofit controls Newman’s Own Inc., the food company that funds the private foundation with its after-tax profits. According to the lawsuit filed this week by Elinor “Nell” Newman and Susan Newman in a Connecticut state court, the foundation’s board of directors reduced the amount that Newman’s daughters each receive annually to direct charitable donations from $400,000 to $200,000, a move they said is a violation of Newman’s wishes. The lawsuit seeks $1.6 million in damages to be donated to the charities of the daughters’ choosing, along with a judgment that requires the foundation to abide by Newman’s wishes. The daughters aren’t members of the foundation’s board of directors.

Newman launched the food company in 1982 with a homemade salad dressing and later produced pasta sauce and other products. The company has given its profits to various causes each year, an amount that has totaled more than $600 million over 40 years. According to the Journal, when Newman established the foundation, he gave instructions on the structure and its charitable giving, which included amounts for his children to direct through their own foundations.

The lawsuit said Newman’s will was amended a few months before his death, when he wasn’t mentally competent. The changes stripped provisions meant to empower Newman family members in dealings with the foundation, according to the suit. The daughters, who were surprised by the changes, didn’t challenge their validity earlier because they were threatened that they would be disinherited due to a provision of the will, according to the suit.

Earlier this year, the foundation said it had adopted a new mission that focuses on bringing joy to children with serious illnesses and on providing nutrition security to children. In their lawsuit, the daughters argue that it mostly eliminated funding to causes that were important to their father, including the arts, climate change awareness, and environmental issues. In a May release announcing the changes, Miriam Nelson, the foundation’s CEO, said, “We believe that if Paul Newman were still with us today, he would embrace our focus on kids.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Gorodenkoff)