DAVIS, Judge:
¶ 1 Max Smith, individually and as trustee of the Smith Family Living Trust, appeals the trial court's ruling partially denying his motion to set aside a sheriff's sale of real property. Mike Meguerditchian, Smith's judgment creditor and the purchaser of the real property, cross-appeals the trial court's granting of the motion with respect to water rights
¶ 2 On December 8, 2008, the trial court awarded Meguerditchian a summary judgment in the amount of $54,690.92 against Smith in connection with a breach of contract suit. On March 26, 2009, Meguerditchian filed an application for a writ of execution, which listed personal property, real property, and water rights belonging to Smith. The trial court issued the writ on April 1, 2009. The writ instructed the sheriff to sell the non-exempt personal property first, and then the real property if sufficient non-exempt personal property could not be found. Smith objected to the writ, asserting that the personal property was exempt from execution because the items of personal property were "tools of his trade," see Utah Code Ann. § 78B-5-506(2) (2008). In a status and scheduling conference relating to the objection held on June 17, 2009, Meguerditchian informed Smith and the court that the personal property would not be sold at the sheriff's sale because the officer conducting the sale had been unable to locate the serial numbers for the property. He asserted that it was therefore unnecessary for the trial court to address Smith's objection to the sale of the personal property. Smith did not object to this resolution and does not appear to have attempted to provide the sheriff with the necessary information so as to facilitate the sale of the personal property.
¶ 3 The Sanpete County Sheriff's Office completed posting of the notice of sale on June 15, 2009, and filed an affidavit of posting with the court on June 16. The sheriff's sale was scheduled for July 7, 2009, at 11:00 a.m., and the notice indicated that four items would be sold: (1) Smith's interest in a 9.42 acre parcel of real property, (2) a parcel described as "Oaker Hills Plat 4," (3) Smith's interest in Water Right # 51-224, and (4) "other rights of [Smith] in water rights and/or interests in water wells located in Sanpete County, Utah." On June 22, 2009, Smith filed a Motion to Set Aside Summary Judgment and Quash Writ of Execution. The trial court held a hearing on the motion on June 24 but continued the hearing to July 8. Because the sale had originally been scheduled for July 7, it was stayed until after the continued hearing. The trial court denied Smith's motion on July 8.
¶ 4 The sheriff's sale was conducted on July 10. Meguerditchian was the only bidder at the sale and purchased, via credit bid, the 9.42 acre parcel for $3,000, the Oaker Hills Plat 4 for $30,000, Water Right # 51-224 for $30,000, and the other unspecified water rights for $3,000. The Sanpete County Sheriff's Office issued a certificate of sale on July 15, 2009. Subsequent to the sale, Meguerditchian and his attorney formed a limited liability company to hold and develop the real property.
¶ 5 On December 8, 2009, Smith moved the court to set aside the sale. Following a hearing, the trial court found that the total fair market value of the two parcels of real property was $505,000 as of the date of the sheriff's sale. It also valued the water rights at $7,500 per acre foot and found that Smith held more than twenty acre feet of water (or at least $150,000 worth). Given the total $33,000 bid for the real property and $33,000 bid for the water rights, the trial court determined that the sale prices of both the real property and the water rights were "grossly inadequate, shocking the conscience of the Court."
¶ 6 The trial court next considered whether there were irregularities in the sale itself. The trial court found that the officer conducting the sheriff's sale acted appropriately by selling the real property and water rights, given that he was unable to locate sufficient personal property. Furthermore, it concluded "that there was nothing misleading regarding the sale of real property ... and no
¶ 7 Smith appealed the trial court's ruling with respect to the real property. Meguerditchian filed a cross-appeal challenging only the trial court's ruling with respect to Water Right # 51-224.
¶ 8 Smith argues, first, that the trial court erred in declining to set aside the sale in the absence of irregularities and, second, that the trial court erred in determining that there were no irregularities in the sale of the real property. On cross-appeal, Meguerditchian argues that the trial court erred in setting aside the sale of Water Right # 51-224 because that particular water right was sufficiently described.
¶ 9 The standard for setting aside a sheriff's sale is based on case law. "[W]e consider the trial court's interpretation of binding case law as presenting a question of law and review the trial court's interpretation of that law for correctness." State v. Richardson, 843 P.2d 517, 518 (Utah Ct.App. 1992). Nevertheless, "a district court has a high degree of discretion in determining whether the facts of a case justify extending a redemption period or setting aside a sheriff's sale after the expiration of the redemption period," and "a district court's decision to set aside a sheriff's sale is to be reviewed for an abuse of ... discretion." Pyper v. Bond (Pyper II), 2011 UT 45, ¶ 24, 258 P.3d 575 (omission in original) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Goggin v. Goggin, 2011 UT 76, ¶ 17, 267 P.3d 885 ("We review a grant of equitable relief for an abuse of discretion," reviewing the trial court's "factual findings for clear error and ... its legal conclusions for correctness." (omission in original) (internal quotation marks omitted)).
¶ 10 One of the main justifications
¶ 11 It has been theorized that an "inadequacy [of price] ... so gross as at once to shock the conscience of all fair and impartial
¶ 12 The determination of whether to set aside a sheriff's sale is an equitable one in which the trial court is imbued with a "high degree of discretion." See Pyper II, 2011 UT 45, ¶ 24, 258 P.3d 575. Thus, in order to reverse the trial court's decision, we would have "to find that, given the applicable law and facts, the trial court's decision [was] unreasonable." Id. (alteration in original) (internal quotation marks omitted). The propriety of setting aside a sheriff's sale based on inadequacy of price alone is only theoretical, and the inadequacy in this case — $33,000 for $505,000 worth of property, or approximately 1/15 of the market value — while significant, does not present an exceptional discrepancy between the purchase price and the market value. Cf., e.g., Pender v. Dowse, 1 Utah.2d 283, 265 P.2d 644, 646 (1954) (examining the sale of $8,000 worth of property for $47.46, or approximately 1/169 of the market value); Pyper I, 2009 UT App 331, ¶¶ 3-4, 224 P.3d 713 (examining the sale of $75,000 worth of property for $329, or approximately 1/228 of the market value). Thus, even "were we inclined to make an exception to the general rule that inadequacy of price alone is insufficient, this case [does not] appear to be a candidate for such an exemption." Cf. Pyper I, 2009 UT App 331, ¶ 12 n. 5, 224 P.3d 713 (observing that the sale of $75,000 worth of property for $329 presented the type of situation that might justify setting aside a sale without irregularities, but declining "to decide the case on [that] basis"). We therefore conclude that it was within the trial court's discretion to determine that the inadequacy of the price in this case was insufficient to justify setting aside the sale without at least a slight accompanying circumstance of unfairness.
¶ 13 Next, Smith argues that even if the trial court could appropriately decline to set aside the sale in the absence of irregularities, it erred in determining that there were no irregularities under the circumstances. As Smith points out, irregularities need not arise from the sale itself in order to support a decision to set aside a sheriff's
¶ 14 Essentially, Smith's argument is that Meguerditchian and his attorney
Id. at 648 (emphases added).
¶ 15 There are two major differences between Pender and the instant case. First, unlike the judgment creditor in Pender, who kept his knowledge of the personal property from the officer conducting the sheriff's sale, Meguerditchian identified and sought a writ of execution for a number of pieces of personal property known to him. The reason the personal property was not sold was that, as the trial court found, the officer was unable to locate the personal property.
¶ 16 Furthermore, even assuming that a presumption of fraud may have arisen due to the real property being sold prior to the personal property, Smith's own actions rebutted that presumption. Throughout the pendency of the sale, Smith maintained that the personal property was exempt from execution because it constituted "tools of his trade." See generally Utah Code Ann. § 78B-5-506(2) (2008) (identifying categories of property exempt from execution). Where Smith objected to the sale of the personal property in satisfaction of the judgment, he cannot now contest the sale of the alternative real property on the ground that the personal property should have been sold first. Given that the officer was unable to locate the personal property identified by Meguerditchian, that Smith objected to the sale of personal property, and that Smith was aware of the officer's intention not to sell the personal property, it was reasonable for the trial court to find "that there was nothing misleading regarding the sale of real property[,] ... no unfairness in the conduct of the purchasing party ... [, and] nothing irregular in the sale of real property."
¶ 17 On cross-appeal, Meguerditchian asserts that the trial court erred in setting aside the sheriff's sale with respect to Water Right # 51-224. The notice of sale includes two separate listings of water rights. The first was described as "[a]ll rights of [Smith] in water right number 51-224, and all other rights of [Smith] in water coming from and the well producing said water." The trial court ruled that this was an inadequate description of Smith's interest in Water Right # 51-224 because "several of the rights included in said water right have been severed off and have individual water right numbers." The second grouping was described simply as "[o]ther rights of [Smith] in water rights and/or interests in water wells located in Sanpete County, Utah." The trial court found that this description was likewise inadequate. Meguerditchian does not dispute that the sale of all unspecified water rights should be set aside on the ground that they were inadequately described. However, Meguerditchian argues that because Water Right # 51-224 was specifically described, the sale should be upheld with respect to the 3.275 acre feet of water remaining in the description of Water Right # 51-224 at the time of the sheriff's sale.
¶ 18 The Utah Rules of Civil Procedure require that notice of a sheriff's sale of real property include "a particular description of the property to be sold" and that "[s]everable lots of real property shall be sold separately." See Utah R. Civ. P. 69B(b)(3), (d). The trial court's only explanation for its determination that "[a]ll rights of [Smith] in water right number 51-224" was an inadequate description of the water right to be sold was its observation "that several of the rights included in [Water Right #51-224] have been severed off and have individual water right numbers." However, we cannot see how this fact affected whether "[a]ll rights of [Smith] in water right number 51-224" accurately described a particular property interest as it existed at the time of the sale.
¶ 19 The trial court did not abuse its discretion by concluding that there were no irregularities attending the sale of real property and that, in the absence of irregularities, the inadequate price alone was insufficient to justify setting aside the sheriff's sale. However, the trial court did exceed its discretion in determining that irregularities in the sale of the water rights justified setting aside the sale of Smith's interest in Water Right # 51-224. Thus, we reverse the trial court's decision to set aside the sale of Water Right # 51-224 but affirm the trial court's ruling in all other respects.
¶ 20 WE CONCUR: CAROLYN B. McHUGH, Presiding Judge, and GREGORY K. ORME, Judge.