City of San Francisco v. Pixley

Citations

• 21 Cal. 56

Syllabus

<p>A sale in mass, under a writ of execution, of real estate, consisting of several known and distinct parcels, at a price greatly below the actual value of the property cannot be sustained against the objection of the judgment debtor.</p> <p>Such sales are not absolutely void; but are voidable, and will be set aside upon reasonable and proper application, when there is reasonable ground for belief that they were less beneficial to the creditor or debtor than they would have been had a different mode been pursued.</p> <p>Under an execution against the city and county of San Francisco, the Sheriff sold a tract of land, belonging to the corporation, one mile in length and half a mile in width, which had, long previous to the sale, been laid out by the city authorities into blocks and streets of designated dimensions and boundaries, and marked upon the official map of the city; part of the land lay under the tide waters of the bay of San Francisco, and the dry land was intersected by a navigable stream. The property was sold in mass for three hundred and sixty dollars, and was worth at the time about $75,000 : Held, that upon application by the judgment debtor, the sale was properly set aside, on account of the manner in which it had been made.</p> <p>When the application to set aside a voidable sale under execution should be made by motion and when by bill in equity, discussed.</p>