NARAS, Ex-CEO Seek Dismissal Of Woman's Negligence, Assault/Battery Claims

SANTA MONICA, CA — The National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences and its former CEO and president are seeking dismissal of a lawsuit filed by a woman who says she was sexually harassed in a culture that permitted the executive and others to abuse, exploit and silence victims for years.

Plaintiff Terri McIntyre states in her Santa Monica Superior Court lawsuit that she was hired as the academy's Los Angeles chapter executive director in early 1994 and that she was subjected to pervasive sexual harassment, battery and assault by the organization's then CEO and president, Mike Greene, in 1994-96.

McIntyre further alleges that Greene, now 77, and other executives "covered up the crimes and offenses, not only those crimes against her, but crimes against other young and vulnerable women."

But on Friday, NARAS attorneys filed a motion with Judge Bradley Phillips seeking dismissal of the two remaining negligence claims against the organization. Greene's lawyers filed a similar motion with Phillips regarding McIntyre's causes of action against Greene for sexual battery, battery and assault.

In her suit filed in December 2023, McIntyre says she was happy to be hired, not knowing that one day she would need to quit in order to "escape the pervasive, incessant and routine sexual harassment and/or sexual assault perpetrated by Greene."

But according to NARAS' attorneys' court papers, McIntyre's allegations are time-barred because she cannot resurrect her claims through the law's narrow revival statue by showing that NARAS covered up or tried to shield any prior instance or allegation of sexual assault.

"Plaintiff conceded during her deposition that she has no personal knowledge or other admissible evidence of any coverup, nondisclosure or confidentiality agreement involving alleged sexual assault prior to the events that she herself alleges in this lawsuit," the NARAS lawyers state in their pleadings.

In their court papers, Greene's attorneys also contend McIntyre's claims against their client violated the statute of limitation for the same reason. The lawyers contend the time to file the sexual battery allegation expired in 2006 and the other two causes of action in 1998.

Greene's dismissal motion is scheduled to be heard Oct. 16 and NARAS' on Oct. 1, 2027.

McIntyre released a statement regarding her alleged experiences.

"I was drugged, sexually assaulted and subject to constant workplace abuse and harassment by the CEO of the Recording Academy during my two years of employment," she said. "His criminal, disgusting and deviant actions were devastating and soul-crushing. As a young, single mother pursuing what, until then, was a promising career in the music industry, I had nowhere to turn and received no help from the Recording Academy."

McIntyre also says she was offered significant settlements to "silence and coerce me to sign non-disclosure agreements, which would forever protect Mike Greene and the Recording Academy from the crimes he and they committed against me."

McIntyre said she was not swayed.

"I am not for sale, lease, or rent," McIntyre said. "One day the time will be right and I will be strong enough to tell my story."

Greene, credited with transforming the Grammy Awards into a global television event, resigned in 2002. Then 52, he had been the subject of an internal investigation into allegations that he sexually harassed female employees, according to a statement released by the academy at the time that also said he was cleared of wrongdoing.