State Supreme Court to decide on Sterling's dispute over deal.

THE California Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case involving a dispute between real estate mogul Donald Sterling, and Malibu property owner Larry Taylor over whether handwritten notes between parties can constitute an enforceable contract.

"The Supreme Court has not addressed this issue for many years, and they thought this was a good opportunity to modernize the law in this area," said Carl Grumer, a partner at Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP representing Sterling. No hearing date has yet been set.

Sterling, who is also the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, says that Taylor agreed to sell him three Santa Monica apartment buildings, only to pull out of the deal later by claiming there was no contract.

Sterling said that Taylor, president of Christina Development Corp., agreed to but did not sign a handwritten letter titled "Contract for Sale of Real Property," although he did write "agreed, accepted and approved" on a second, typewritten letter that Sterling sent along with a $1.5 million deposit check.

Both letters set the purchase price for the three properties at $14.5 million, rather than the $16.75 million Taylor suggested at a meeting between the two. In earlier filings, Taylor maintained that the notations on the typewritten letter referred only to his receipt of the check, which he returned after a dispute over the purchase price.

Taylor's attorney, Jeffrey Wruble, a shareholder at Buchalter Nemer Fields & Younger PC, had appealed to the Supreme Court after losing the case in the 2nd Appellate District in November 2003. In that case, a three-judge appellate panel reversed a lower court ruling throwing out Sterling's claims.

Sterling is seeking a ruling confirming the enforceability of the agreement, allowing him to move forward with his purchase of the buildings at 808 Fourth St., 843 Fourth St. and 1251 14th St., known collectively as Santa Monica Collection.