Goldberg seeks to avoid the Basinger syndrome

Whoopi Goldberg may be doing her best not to sound like Kim Basinger today when a Los Angeles Superior Court judge rules on her motion for a summary judgment in a case where she allegedly backed out of an oral contract to do a pic called "T. Rex."

Producer Richard Abramson sued Goldberg for $ 20 mil, claiming she "pulled out" of an oral contract to star in the pic, produced by T. Rex Productions.

Goldberg, through attorneys Edelstein and Laird, filed a counter-request to dismiss.

Abramson's lawyer, Donald Zachary, says the pair made the verbal agreement after several discussions, "both face-to-face and on the phone."

Goldberg's attorney, Ralph Loeb, had no comment.

The case resembles Basinger's well-hyped trial of last March, in which she was ordered to pay Main Line Pictures nearly $ 9 mil after backing out of "Boxing Helena." That figure was later reduced to $ 7.4 mil, which has not been paid because Basinger declared bankruptcy.

Zachary says that Abramson's case is even stronger than Main Line's.

"In the Kim case, her agents made the deal and then she said, 'I didn't agree to that,' " said Zachary. "In this case Whoopi made the deal directly and then her agents said, 'No, we never approved it.' "

If Goldberg's motion is denied today by Judge Stephen Lachs, the trial is skedded to begin on Sept. 27.

Goldberg was not expected to attend the hearing.