Sting v. Beckham

BARNARD, P. J. This is an appeal from an order confirming the sale of real property. The property consists of 60 acres of unimproved land, being five 10-aere lots and two 5-acre lots in a certain subdivision. Each of the parties to the action owned a one-half interest in the property. In this action for a partition the court ordered the land sold and appointed a referee for that purpose. That order was affirmed on a previous appeal. (Sting v. Beckham, 94 Cal.App.2d 823 [211 P.2d 586].)

On June 28, 1950, the referee filed his return and report showing that the plaintiff had bid $15,000 for all of the property. It also set forth that the defendant had bid certain amounts for five of the parcels and that a third party had bid $5,500 for two of the parcels, these separate bids totaling $14,400.

On June 29, 1950, the plaintiff, claiming to be the purchaser of the property, filed a petition to confirm the sale to her. On the same day, notice was duly given and served of a hearing on this petition for confirmation of sale to be held on July 10, 1950. On July 7, 1950, the defendant filed an objection to such confirmation, with a request that the court direct the referee to sell two of the parcels to the defendant for $8,000, and that the court confirm said sale. On the same date, the defendant served and filed a notice that on July 24, 1950, she would move the court to refuse to confirm the report of the referee or to confirm any sales proposed by said report, or [505]the petition of the plaintiff, “except the sale to defendants Beckham.”

When the matter came on for hearing on July 10, 1950, the court overruled the objections filed by the defendant and denied her motion for a continuance. An argument between the parties then ensued as to whether the court should receive bids for the entire tract as a whole or for individual parcels. The court ruled that it would hear bids both ways and would sell the property to the person or persons bidding the highest amount for the entire tract, or for all of the parcels. The defendant then made various bids for separate parcels, the final bids on the separate parcels totaling $16,850. The plaintiff continued to bid more for the entire property than the aggregate of the defendant’s bids for the separate parcels. The defendant finally bid $17,250 for the entire property and the plaintiff raised this to $17,500. The judge called for further bids without success, and then declared the property sold to the plaintiff for $17,500, as the highest bid either on an entire or a separate basis. An order confirming the sale to the plaintiff was then entered, from which the defendant has appealed upon the clerk’s transcript and an agreed statement.