The Florida Law Weekly

Does the test for vacating a foreclosure sale apply when the adequacy of the bid price is not at issue?

Florida District Courts of Appeal

Mortgage foreclosure -- Sale -- Vacation -- Circuit court did not abuse its discretion when it granted defendants' motion to vacate foreclosure sale and certificate of sale, vacated final judgment, and dismissed case without holding hearing to determine whether sale price was grossly inadequate where it was undisputed that bank and defendants had settled case and that their agreement provided that the foreclosure sale should have been cancelled -- Court recedes from line of cases which suggests that grossly inadequate sale price must always be part of legal equation when ruling on motion to set aside foreclosure sale -- Question certified: Does the test set forth in Arlt v. Buchanan, 190 So. 2d 575 (Fla. 1966), for vacating a foreclosure sale apply when adequacy of the bid price is not at issue? Read full text.

Mortgage foreclosure -- Sale -- Vacation -- Grossly inadequate sale price -- Trial court abused its discretion by denying lender's motion to vacate foreclosure sale at which property was sold to third party for $800 where amount of foreclosure judgment was over $41,000 and lender argued that price was grossly inadequate and that the inadequacy resulted from mistake by lender, in that substitution of legal representation resulted in lender's failure to have agent at sale. Read full text.

Mortgage foreclosure -- Sale -- Vacation -- Unsuccessful bidder who was not party to foreclosure proceedings lacked standing to challenge foreclosure sale based on timing and form of purchasers' deposit -- Generally, non-party bidder in foreclosure sale has standing only to challenge the validity of a particular bid with respect to whether the bid exceeded his own bid and whether payment in accordance with the successful bid was forthcoming -- Beyond these narrow grounds, nonparty bidder can only challenge foreclosure sale if there has been fraud in bidding process. Read full text.

Mortgage foreclosure -- Sale -- Vacation -- Abuse of discretion to grant motion to vacate foreclosure sale based on finding that sale was inherently defective without conducting evidentiary hearing on motion. Read full text.

Mortgage foreclosure -- Setting aside of foreclosure sale -- Trial court erred in summarily denying foreclosing mortgagee's motion to set aside foreclosure sale where motion alleged that sale price was grossly inadequate and that mortgagee mistakenly failed to send a representative to the sale -- Unilateral mistake which results in grossly inadequate sale price is sufficient to invoke trial court's discretion to consider setting sale aside -- Question of whether mortgagee's failure to have a representative present was the result of mistake is factual question that requires a hearing. Read full text.

Mortgage foreclosure -- Sale -- Vacation -- Gross inadequacy of purchase price -- Trial court grossly abused discretion by refusing to set aside foreclosure sale of property where $500,000 property sold for $1,000 -- Mortgagee was innocent victim of the mistakes of its attorneys and agents, which resulted in failure of mortgagee's agent to attend sale, and acted promptly to set aside the sale by filing its motion three days later -- Case distinguished from one in which properly served defendants ignore a lawsuit altogether and cases involving no irregularity connected with the sale. Read full text.

Civil procedure -- Relief from judgment -- Vacation of foreclosure sale -- No abuse of discretion in denying motion to set aside foreclosure sale where record on appeal does not support allegation of "grossly inadequate" price or an irregularity in the sale. Read full text.

Mortgages -- Foreclosure -- Sale -- Abuse of discretion to set aside foreclosure sale where bid was not grossly inadequate and no irregularities in the sale process itself were evident -- Right of redemption was extinguished where right was not exercised prior to filing of certificate of sale and recording of certificate of sale -- Foreclosure sale price of roughly 59% of fair market value of property was not grossly inadequate -- Finding that title company which was responsible for completing mortgagor's sale of property to third party and paying off the mortgage had simply failed to send the money in time to stop the sale not basis for setting aside sale. Read full text.

Mortgages -- Foreclosure -- Unilateral mistake which results in grossly inadequate price is legally sufficient to invoke court's discretion to consider setting sale aside -- Remand for reconsideration of mortgagee's motion to set aside judicial sale, at which property was purchased by competing mortgagee for only $100, where trial court mistakenly believed that it could not exercise its discretion when complaining party was responsible for mistake. Read full text.

Mortgages -- Foreclosure -- No error in ratifying clerk's sale and directing issuance of certificate of title and denying objection to sale -- In order to vacate foreclosure sale, trial court must find that the foreclosure sale bid was grossly or startlingly inadequate, and that the inadequacy of the bid resulted from some mistake, fraud, or other irregularity in the sale. Read full text.

Mortgages -- Foreclosure -- Vacation of foreclosure sale -- No abuse of discretion in setting aside foreclosure sale based on finding that notice of sale was defective because of court clerk's failure to amend caption of case to reflect substitution of transferee for the original plaintiff and failure to provide transferee's counsel with notice -- Inadequacy of bid price is not sole basis for setting aside a foreclosure sale -- Where adequacy of bid price is not at issue, proper test for vacating foreclosure sale is that set forth in Moran-Alleen Co. v. Brown, not test set forth in Arlt v. Buchanan -- Question certified: Does the test set forth in Arlt v. Buchanan, 190 So. 2d 575, 577 (Fla. 1966), for vacating a foreclosure sale apply when adequacy of the bid price is not at issue? Read full text.

Mortgages -- Foreclosure -- Judicial sale -- Setting aside -- Error to set aside foreclosure sale where the record does not demonstrate that mortgagor made requisite showing that foreclosure sale bid was grossly or startlingly inadequate -- Purchase price which equaled 69.09% of appraised value was not grossly or startlingly inadequate. Read full text.

Mortgages -- Foreclosure -- Issues with respect to final judgment of foreclosure, which was not appealed, were untimely when raised in appeal of denial of objections to foreclosure sale -- Denial of objection based on inadequate sale price affirmed where appellants have not shown both a grossly inadequate sale price and inadequacy of the bid resulting from some mistake, fraud or other irregularity in sale. Read full text.

Mortgage foreclosure -- Error to vacate foreclosure sale where it was not shown that foreclosure sale bid was grossly or startlingly inadequate -- Where bidder's expert placed value of property at $225,000, bank's expert placed value of property at $300,000, and assessed value of property for real estate tax purposes was $252,612, bid of $202,000 was adequate. Read full text.

Mortgage foreclosure -- Trial court did not abuse discretion in refusing to set aside foreclosure sale because of gross inadequacy of amount paid by successful bidder where sale price was 56% of value of property determined by court. Read full text.

Mortgages -- Foreclosure -- Judicial sale -- Vacation -- Appeal by mortgagee from denial of motion to set aside mortgage foreclosure sale, alleging gross inadequacy of price and mistaken failure of its agent to attend -- Trial court's discretion was unduly restricted by mistaken understanding that the mistake which results in inadequate price must be made by someone present at the sale, and that it cannot be unilateral mistake of complaining party -- Physical presence at sale is not required -- Under general rule, even a unilateral mistake which results in grossly inadequate price is legally sufficient to invoke trial court's discretion to consider setting sale aside -- When deciding the balance of equities court has full benefit of its broad discretion -- Order declining to set aside mortgage foreclosure sale reversed and remanded for reconsideration of challenge to foreclosure sale. Read full text.

Liens -- Mechanic's lien -- Foreclosure -- Judicial sale -- Where successful bid was grossly inadequate and, because of inadvertence or mistake, owner's attorney did not attend sale or take any action to redeem property or otherwise represent owner's interest, trial court abused its discretion when it refused to set aside sale and direct resale. Read full text.

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