Cochrane v. Burton

Garoutte, J. This is an appeal from an order of the superior coupt of San Diego county, made and entered on the twenty-second day of March, 1894, confirming the sale of the Bancho Jamul, made by the pespondent Henry H. Burton, as administrator of the éstate of Henry S. Burton, deceased, to the respondent J. Wade McDonald, on the twenty-fourth day of February, 1894. The objections to the confirmation of the sale were made by the heirs of the deceased, and they now prosecute this appeal. For a reversal of the judgment they rely upon the claim that the sum bid, and for which the sale was made and confirmed, was disproportionate to the value of the land sold.

Upon the hearing of the application for confirmation, and the objections thereto, the court took testimony and made findings of fact to the following effect: 1. That, after due notice given, said property was sold at public auction at the courthouse door, in the city of Sari Diego, for the sum of thirty-eight thousand dollars; 2. That said sale was in all respects fairly and legally conducted and made, and that said sum bid was not disproportionate to the value of the property; 3. That no sum [355]exceeding such bid ten per cent, or exceeding said bid in any sum or amount whatsoever, can be obtained if a new sale was had, and no offer of any kind in excess of the aforesaid bid has been made to the court; 4. “That prior to said sale, and at the time thereof, the said objectors to the confirmation of said sale had by the commencement of certain litigation in respect of said property and the previous orders of this court with reference thereto, and which litigation is still pending and undetermined, and by public threats of further litigation, and notification publicly made at the time and place of said sale that any purchaser of said land at the same time would ‘purchase a lawsuit,’ and other declarations of like character and effect, created such a feeling of distrust and uncertainty as to the title that any purchaser of said property at said sale should or might acquire thereto by virtue of said sale and the confirmation thereof by this court, and the execution and delivery of an administrator’s deed for said property, that the said sum of thirty-eight thousand dollars so bid by the said J. Wade McDonald therefor was and is the full market value of said property, although but for such feeling of doubt and uncertainty, so created by said objectors, the market value of said property would then and there have been the sum of eighty thousand dollars, or thereabouts, as claimed by said objectors.”