Art. 2339.Judgment Debtor and Creditor May Bid

It might seem unusual for the two parties on opposite sides of the underlying dispute to be allowed to bid on the property being sold to satisfy that dispute, but Article 2339 opens the sale to both of them without restriction, the same as any other bidder.

For a debtor, this matters in practice when family funds, a new loan, or some other source of cash makes it possible to bid on the property and keep it, effectively buying back what was seized rather than losing it permanently to a stranger. Nothing in this article limits the debtor's participation to a token or symbolic bid; he can bid to win.

For the seizing creditor, bidding offers a way to acquire the property directly if the bidding at the sale seems to be settling well below what the property is worth, rather than accepting a low cash recovery and watching the property go to someone else for less than its value. This possibility connects to Article 2338, where a creditor holding the superior lien on the property has particular latitude in deciding what price to accept at his own sale.