Art. 2337.Price Insufficient to Discharge Superior Privileges; Property Not Sold

Article 2336 lets a second offering sell for whatever price it draws, with no two-thirds floor protecting the debtor's equity. Article 2337 sets a different kind of floor that applies regardless of which offering is underway, because it protects a different interest: the superior lienholders and the basic costs of running the sale, rather than the debtor's stake in the property.

If the highest bid at the first offering, or at any later offering, will not stretch far enough to cover the costs of the sale and pay off the security interests, mortgages, liens, and privileges that outrank the seizing creditor's, the sale cannot happen. That is true even after a property has already failed to reach two-thirds of its appraised value and moved to a second offering under Article 2336; a bid that clears that lower bar can still fail this one.

Because this rule turns on knowing exactly what the superior encumbrances add up to, it works hand in hand with Article 2336.1, which gives the sheriff or the seizing creditor a formal way to obtain that payoff figure from the superior lienholder before the sale date arrives.