Woman accusing ex-Grammy CEO of sexual assault gets trial date

A woman who claims former Recording Academy CEO Michael Green drugged and sexually abused her in the 1990s was granted a trial date Monday after her lawyer said it was too early to even consider settlement talks. Plaintiff Terri McIntyre is now scheduled to begin a 15-day jury trial against Greene and the Grammy organization on July 20, 2026, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled in a morning hearing.

McIntyre, the former executive director of the Academy's Los Angeles chapter, filed the underlying lawsuit last December. It alleges that Greene sexually assaulted McIntyre multiple times during her tenure at the nonprofit between 1994 and 1996. The complaint alleges that Greene spiked McIntyre's drink and sexually assaulted her during a work trip to Hawaii. She alleges that Greene also forced her to perform oral sex and even expressly stated that sex was a condition of her employment. “Green repeatedly told the plaintiff that he needed to 'give some head to move on,'” her lawsuit alleges.

“Expect to pursue mediation sooner rather than later? Or should I flag it as part of my 1% of cases that I should assume I should try?” Judge H. Jay Ford asked the parties Monday during the first substantive hearing in the case. Academy lawyer Philippe A. Lebel had already told the court that “there is not a huge amount of documents [to be shared] since the alleged events took place, which occurred in the mid-1990s.”

McIntyre's attorney, Neda Lotfi, said that so far, her side has received no discovery from the defendants and no depositions have been taken. “We have nothing from the defendants, so we are not in a convenient position to schedule a mediation,” Lotfi said. “We know the events happened a long time ago, but that doesn't make the case any less valuable and it doesn't mean there aren't still people alive who witnessed the events that happened.”

The parties said they were cooperating well enough to create depositions without court administration. Lebel said his side previously met with McIntyre's legal team and managed to avert an early fight over the complaint. “We intended to file a protest that we were able to avoid through the meet-and-greet process,” Lebel said. Indeed, McIntyre dismissed two of the four claims against the Recording Academy in a March filing. The claims she dismissed involved California's Fair Employment and Housing Act. The two claims still pending against the Grammy organization allege negligence related to Greene's hiring and management.

The Recording Academy said in an earlier statement to Rolling rock that “in light of the pending litigation, the Academy declines to comment on these allegations, which occurred nearly 30 years ago. Today's Recording Academy has a zero-tolerance policy regarding sexual misconduct, and we will stand firm in that commitment.”

For his part, Greene recently filed an answer to McIntyre's complaint, which denied “any, all, and all allegations” in her complaint.

Greene served as CEO of the Recording Academy from the late 1980s to 2002. He was credited with expanding the Grammy Awards ceremony to an internationally televised event, but his tenure ended largely in disgrace after extensive reference to Los Angeles Times detailed allegations of sexual harassment along with allegations that he abused his power in the music industry for his own personal gain.

In 2001, the Recording Academy reportedly paid a $650,000 settlement to a former Grammy executive after accusing Greene of harassment and abuse. Green later resigned under pressure in 2002 after the Recording Academy launched an investigation into his tenure. He denied any wrongdoing both in the 1990s and when he resigned.