No. SB 300
Filed under Legal.
Alternative Judicial Sales Procedures; Requiring the court to direct the clerk of an alternative auctioneer to sell real or personal property under an order or final judgment at public sale; prohibiting the court in a foreclosure action from approving a request from a party to substantially deviate from specified judicial sales procedures unless certain conditions are met; requiring the clerk to conduct a sale according to specified provisions under specified circumstances; requiring the court to set forth in writing any deviation authorized in the final judgment of foreclosure or other order, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDForeclosure sales must normally follow the clerk-run process in section 45.031. A court can now direct an alternative auctioneer instead, but only through a strict deviation process, and only if that auctioneer is licensed, independent, and unrelated to any party.
Whoever did not request the deviation -- the owner of record or the plaintiff -- can force the sale back to the clerk by objecting within 10 days after the court approves it. Any approved deviation must be written into the final judgment.
The plaintiff's credit-bid rights are capped at the judgment amount; any higher bid must be paid in cash. Online bidders must be identity-verified and checked against the federal sanctions list before a sale is confirmed.
Regardless of who runs the auction, the clerk still files the sale and title certificates, disburses proceeds, and handles any surplus. Anyone harmed by a willful violation of these rules can now sue for damages.
AIA court in a foreclosure action may not approve a party's request to deviate substantially from the standard judicial sale procedure in s. 45.031, unless the deviation follows the specific process and safeguards this new section lays out.
AIIn the final judgment, the court can now direct either the clerk or an alternative auctioneer authorized under the new section to sell the property at public sale, instead of only the clerk.
AIThe alternative auctioneer cannot be a party, a party's attorney, an employee of either, a relative of a party or their business entity, or in any financial relationship to the case or property beyond the fee for conducting the sale. The auctioneer must also be licensed as an auctioneer or a real estate broker and in good standing for the preceding 5 years, and must recuse if a relative or business partner bids.
AIIf the plaintiff sought the deviation, the owner of record may object within 10 days after the court approves an alternative sale; if the owner sought it, the plaintiff may object on the same timeline. Either way, a timely objection means the clerk conducts the sale under standard procedure instead of the alternative auctioneer, and any deviation the court does authorize must be written into the final judgment.
AIA plaintiff's credit bid is limited to the amount the judgment says is owed; any plaintiff bid above that amount must be paid in cash rather than credited against the debt.
AIEven when an alternative auctioneer runs the auction, the clerk in the county where the case is pending still files the certificate of sale and title, disburses proceeds, and handles any surplus, and still collects the standard service charge for doing so.
AIA person harmed by a willful violation of any requirement in this new section can sue for damages, a remedy that did not exist under the standard sale procedure alone.
AIBefore a court may enter an order approving an online sale, the alternative auctioneer must check the winning purchaser against the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions list.