Foreclosure Sale

Applegate v. Carrington Foreclosure Services, LLC (2025) 112 Cal.App.5th 356

A bidder sued the trustee and beneficiary under a deed of trust, asserting various claims based on an alleged violation of the foreclosure law.

​The bidder alleged that the trustee’s action in postponing the sale after the public auction wrongfully rescinded the postforeclosure bidding window for prospective owner-occupant bidders that was created by a change to the law in 2021. The trial court granted the trustee’s and the beneficiary’s motion for summary judgment.

The Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment. Because the property was covered by Civ. Code, § 2924m, the end of the public auction of the property did not complete the sale. The postponed sale (rescission) was permitted under Civ. Code, § 2924g. The trustee clearly had discretionary authority to postpone the sale to protect the beneficiary’s interest. The bidder had not shown the trustee’s conduct was unlawful. The bidder’s claim also failed as a matter of law because he did not comply with the statute’s requirements for bids and notices of bid and could not prove he was a prospective owner-occupant as defined in the statute.