Millennium Rock Mortgage, Inc. v. T.D. Service Co.

Defendant and appellant T.D. Service Company (TDS) appeals from an order granting a preliminary injunction that enjoined it from recon-ducting a nonjudicial foreclosure sale for certain real property in Sacramento. The auctioneer at the foreclosure sale used an auction script for a different foreclosure, but erroneously called out the street address of the subject property. As a result, he opened the bidding with a credit bid that was only a fraction of what was actually owed on the subject property. Plaintiff and respondent Millennium Rock Mortgage, Inc. (Millennium), bid slightly more than the opening credit bid and was declared the successful bidder. Later the same day, TDS discovered the error and sought to conduct the sale again. Millennium sued to quiet title to the property.

The trial court issued a preliminary injunction barring TDS from conducting a new foreclosure sale. The issue on appeal is whether the auctioneer’s mistake, discovered after the close of bidding but prior to the issuance of a trustee’s deed, constituted an “irregularity” sufficient to give the trustee the right to rescind the sale. The trial court believed it did not. We disagree and shall…