## Facts

- Trustees conducted a foreclosure auction of real property in Arlington County, Virginia (the “Field Tract”) under a deed of trust securing a $100,000 debt.
- After competitive bidding, Hubert N. Hoffman bid $177,000, and the auctioneer announced the property sold at that amount and signaled acceptance by striking his fist into his palm.
- Immediately thereafter, a trustee informed the auctioneer that he had missed a $178,000 bid that had been made before or at the same time as the acceptance gesture.
- Hoffman asserted that he had already purchased the property for $177,000, but the auctioneer announced the $178,000 bid and reopened the bidding.
- The renewed bidding ended with Hoffman as the high bidder at $194,000.
- Hoffman paid the required deposit and later the remaining purchase price under protest, then sued the former owners and trustees to recover $17,000 (the difference between $177,000 and $194,000).
- The trial court found as fact (and Hoffman did not challenge on appeal) that the $178,000 bid was made “prior to or simultaneously with” the auctioneer’s acceptance gesture and held the auctioneer had discretion to reopen bidding.

## Issues

1. Whether, at a foreclosure sale of land, an auctioneer may reopen bidding when a higher bid is made immediately prior to or simultaneously with the act signifying acceptance of a lower bid.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed judgment for the defendants.
- The court held that an auctioneer at a land foreclosure sale has discretion to reopen bidding when a higher bid is made immediately prior to or simultaneously with the acceptance gesture.
- Because the missed $178,000 bid was timely under the trial court’s unchallenged finding, the auctioneer properly reopened bidding.
- Hoffman was not entitled to recover the $17,000 difference between his initial bid and the final purchase price.

## Legal Principles

- In an auction sale of land, when an overbid is made immediately prior to or simultaneously with the falling of the hammer (or equivalent act) accepting a lower bid, the auctioneer may, in discretion, reopen the bidding and continue the sale.
- Statutory rules governing auctions of goods are not controlling for land sales, but analogous principles may be applied to land auctions to guide the auctioneer’s authority and the point of acceptance.
- Where the timing of the overbid is found as fact and not challenged on appeal, the appellate court treats that timing as established in determining the auctioneer’s authority to reopen bidding.

## Conclusion

The court upheld a foreclosure auction in which the auctioneer reopened bidding after learning of a higher bid made before or at the moment of acceptance, holding that the auctioneer had discretion to continue the sale and the purchaser could not recoup the difference between the initial and final bid.


Hoffman v. Horton, 186 S.E.2d 79 (Va. 1972)