Auction Sales in Louisiana

Louisiana Revised Statutes
Title 9. Civil Code Ancillaries
Code Book III. Of the Different Modes of Acquiring the Ownership of Things
Code Title VII. Sale
Chapter 6. Auction Sales, Judicial Sales, and Expropriation (Refs & Annos)
Part I. Auction Sales
§ 3151. Sale by auction, definition
§ 3152. Voluntary or forced sale
§ 3153. Auction sale by officers of justice
§ 3154. General rules governing sales by auction
§ 3155. Sale through public officer
§ 3156. Announcement of conditions of sale and demand for bids
§ 3157. Adjudication to highest bidder
§ 3158. Adjudication as completion of sale
§ 3159. Payment of price before delivery
§ 3160. Sale of immovable, retention of price until execution of act
§ 3161. Resale for non-compliance with bid; adjudicatee's liability for deficiency
§ 3162. Resale, bid by first adjudicatee prohibited
§ 3163. Rejection of indorser of purchase price notes, effect on adjudication
§ 3164. Liability of seller refusing to accept solvent indorser
§ 3165. Liability for unauthorized bidding in name of another

§ 3151. Sale by auction, definition

The sale by auction is that which takes place when the thing is offered publicly to be sold to whoever will give the highest price.

§ 3152. Voluntary or forced sale

This sale is either voluntary or forced: voluntary when the owner himself offers his property for sale in this manner; forced, when the law prescribes this mode of sale for certain property, such as that of minors.

§ 3153. Auction sale by officers of justice

The sale by auction, as it is made by officers of justice, is treated of separately, under the chapter on judicial sales.

§ 3154. General rules governing sales by auction

The sale by auction, whether made at the will of the seller, or by direction of the law, is subjected to the rules hereafter mentioned.

§ 3155. Sale through public officer

It can not be made directly by the seller himself, but must be made through the ministry of a public officer, appointed for that purpose.

§ 3156. Announcement of conditions of sale and demand for bids

This officer, after having received in writing, from the seller, the conditions of the sale, must proclaim them, in a loud and audible voice, and afterwards propose that a bid shall be made for the property thus offered.

§ 3157. Adjudication to highest bidder

When the highest price offered has been cried long enough to make it probable that no higher will be offered, he who has made the offer is publicly declared to be the purchaser, and the thing sold is adjudicated to him.

§ 3158. Adjudication as completion of sale

This adjudication is the completion of the sale; the purchaser becomes the owner of the article adjudged, and the contract is, from that time, subjected to the same rules which govern the ordinary contract of sale.

§ 3159. Payment of price before delivery

If the adjudication be made on condition that the price shall be paid in cash, the auctioneer may require the price immediately, before delivering possession of the thing sold.

§ 3160. Sale of immovable, retention of price until execution of act

If the object adjudged is an immovable for which the law requires that the act of sale shall be passed in writing, the purchaser may retain the price, and the seller the possession of the thing, until the act be passed.
This act ought to be passed within twenty-four hours after the adjudication, if one of the parties require it; he who occasions a further delay is responsible to the other in damages.

§ 3161. Resale for non-compliance with bid; adjudicatee's liability for deficiency

In all cases of sale by auction, whether of movables or immovables, if the person to whom adjudication is made, does not pay the price at the time required, agreeably to the two preceding articles, the seller at the end of ten days, and after the customary notices, may again expose to public sale the thing sold, as if the first adjudication had never been made; and if at the second crying, the thing is adjudged for a smaller price than that which had been offered by the person to whom the first adjudication was made, the latter remains a debtor to the vendor, for the deficiency and for all the expenses incurred subsequent to the first sale. But if a higher price is offered for the thing than that for which it was first adjudged, the first purchaser has no claim for the excess.

§ 3162. Resale, bid by first adjudicatee prohibited

At this second crying, the first purchaser can not be allowed to bid, either directly or through the intervention of another person.

§ 3163. Rejection of indorser of purchase price notes,
effect on adjudication

When a thing is exposed to public sale, with notice that the buyer shall give indorsed notes for the price, he is bound, immediately after the sale, if required, to acquaint the auctioneer or the seller with the name of the person whom he offers for indorser, and if this indorser does not suit the seller, or in his absence the auctioneer, the adjudication is considered as not having been made.

§ 3164. Liability of seller refusing to accept solvent indorser

The refusal by the seller to receive the indorser whom the purchaser offers, renders him responsible in damages to the latter, if it be proved that the indorser proposed is good and solvent.

§ 3165. Liability for unauthorized bidding in name of another

The adjudication can only be made to a bidder present, or properly represented. The person who bids in the name of another, without sufficient authority to bind him, is considered as having bought on his own account, and is answerable for all the consequences of the adjudication.
La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 9:3151 - 9:3165