NARAS GREENING GREENE'S
GEIMER GAFFE?

But insiders are whispering that the previously Teflon-coated Greene may not have enough board votes to survive this latest legal bombshell. Where earlier reports had most of the Academy's directors solidly in Greene's court, the latest inside line has the ax falling at any moment. Some are claiming the search for Greene's replacement is already under way.

According to sources, representatives for both Geimer and the Recording Academy have agreed upon a proposed settlement of $500,000 according to Wednesday's (10/24) Los Angeles Times. The Academy's 41-member board of directors will decide whether to approve the settlement during a conference being scheduled for this week.

Terms of the proposed settlement are unknown. What is known, however, is that some of the Academy's board members want a discussion of Greene's future as the high-profile President of NARAS, the nonprofit organization behind the Grammy Awards, to be put on the conference-call agenda.

Previous reports of Geimer's accusations suggested that the oft-embattled Greene might face serious repercussions as a result of Geimer's Gloria Allred-backed legal attack, but it was generally acknowledged that most of the Academy's directors were solidly in Greene's court, making an ouster unlikely. The latest buzz has begun to suggest quite the opposite however.

Geimer attorneys, which include Allred and Nathan Goldberg, first contacted NARAS with Geimer's complaint of physical and emotional injury in July. Geimer, who was hired in 2000 to serve as NARAS' first Human Resources executive, has been out on disability leave since that time. While NARAS representatives in the past have strenuously denied Geimer's allegations of repeated abuse on the part of Greene, they have now apparently determined that a monetary settlement would be preferable to a public airing of the charges.