Peterson v. Corporation of America

69 P.2d 904, 21 Cal. App. 2d 527, 1937 Cal. App. LEXIS 312
California Court of Appeal·Decided June 25, 1937·No. Civ. 10461·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinion

SPENCE, Acting P. J.

—Plaintiff brought this action seeking to set aside a sale made under a deed of trust. The trial court made findings in favor of defendants and judgment was entered accordingly. Plaintiff appeals from said judgment.

*529 The sale was made in 1935 under a deed of trust executed in 1930 by Burg Bros., a corporation, to secure its promissory note in favor of defendant Bank of America in the principal sum of $296,920.81. The property covered by the deed of trust consisted of a large tract of land in the city of Richmond which was described in the deed of trust in the thirty separately numbered parcels. Bach of said parcels was described by reference to a map and consisted of unimproved lots which were approximately 50x100 feet in size. Prior to the sale, numerous lots had been reconveyed at the request of the Burg Bros., the trustor, and the interest of trustor had been transferred to plaintiff who was the secretary of the trustor. At the time of the sale, 1,087 lots remained subject to the deed of trust. Defendant Bank of America purchased said property at the sale for the sum of $262,500.

The parties stipulated to practically all of the material facts upon the trial. It was stipulated among other things that default had been made in the payment of principal, interest and taxes prior to the recording of the notice of default and election to sell; that such notice had been filed for record; that notice of sale had been published in a newspaper of general circulation published in the city of Richmond and had been personally served upon plaintiff; that notice of sale had been posted in three public places in the city of Richmond and had been posted on the property to be sold in the manner hereinafter described. Said manner of posting notice on the property was as follows: Bach notice consisted of the ordinary galley sheets which were six in number owing to the length of the description of the property involved; the first sheet contained all the provisions of the ordinary notice of sale other than the description of the property and also contained the description of a portion of the property; the remaining sheets contained the description of the balance of the property; each notice was attached to a wooden post about three feet in length which was driven into the ground, the six galley sheets being attached at the top by a tack and being held together at the bottom by an elastic band in order to minimize the chance of destruction by the elements. One or more of said notices was posted on each of the thirty parcels described in the deed of trust. While notice was not posted on each of the 1,087 lots, a notice was posted on each lot which was a single or isolated lot and *530 a notice was posted on each group of lots where there was a group of contiguous lots. The total number of notices so posted on the property described in the deed of trust was approximately 800. At the time of the sale, the lots were not offered for sale separately but the entire tract was offered for sale as a whole and was purchased by defendant Bank of America as above indicated.

The note secured by the deed of trust provided for payment “in United States Gold Coin of the present standard of weight, fineness and value”. The notice of default did not refer to that fact and the notice of sale did not require bids to be made in gold coin but stated that defendant Corporation of America, the trustee, would sell to the highest bidder “for cash in lawful money of the United States of America”. At the sale, the bidding was done on the basis of “lawful money” rather than the basis of gold coin.

The present case was tried before the decision of the Supreme Court in Pacific States Sav. & Loan Co. v. O’Neill, 7 Cal. (2d) 596 [61 Pac. (2d) 1160], Counsel for appellants in that case were the same as counsel for appellants in the present case. The contention was there made that “The sale was void because the note and trust deed provided for payment in gold coin of the United States, whereas the notice of default, the notice of sale, and the bid all proceeded upon the theory that the note was payable in lawful money”. It was further contended in that case that “The sale was en masse of three parcels of property and, therefore, void, because contrary to section 694, Code of Civil Procedure”. As precisely the same contentions are advanced in the present case, they may be disposed of without further discussion upon the authority of the ease above cited. (See, also Prudential Ins. Co. v. Sly, 7 Cal. (2d) 727 [62 Pac. (2d) 740].)

Appellant further contends that the sale was void for the reason that the notice of sale was not posted on each of the 1,087 lots covered by the deed of trust. We find no merit in this contention. Section 692 of the Code of Civil Procedure merely requires that notice shall be posted “in some conspicuous place on the property to be sold”. Said section does not require posting in the manner for which appellant contends and the posting here made was sufficient. (Security-First Nat. Bank v. De La Cuesta, 15 Cal. App. (2d) 302 [59 Pac. (2d) 542]; Merchants Nat. T. & S. Bank *531 v. Snell, 110 Cal. App. 483 [294 Pac. 413]; see, also, Crandall v. Title Guaranty etc. Co., 2 Cal. App. (2d) 96 [37 Pac. (2d) 519].)

Appellant further contends that the sale was void for the reason that five of the six sheets comprising the notice were under the first sheet and “were invisible”. This contention is likewise without merit. The notice was posted in the customary manner and while five sheets thereof could not be read without lifting the sheet or sheets which preceded each of said five sheets, said sheets were not “invisible” and all were readily accessible to any person who desired to read them. It is apparently conceded that each of the 800 notices was posted in a “conspicuous place” but is argued that the notices were not “conspicuously posted” for the reason above mentioned. Appellant seems to take the position that the several sheets should have been posted side by side rather than in the manner described but we believe that appellant’s position is untenable. The posting was done in the manner ordinarily adopted and we find no irregularity therein.

As the evidence showed that the sale was in all respects regularly noticed and conducted, we deem it unnecessary to discuss the further points urged by respondents regarding the conclusiveness of the recitals in the trustee’s deed and the failure of appellant to offer to do equity before seeking the aid of a court of equity.

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Peterson v. Corporation of America, 69 P.2d 904, 21 Cal. App. 2d 527, 1937 Cal. App. LEXIS 312 (Cal. Ct. App. 1937).

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