Gregory v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co.

The auction sale set forth in the pleadings was not necessarily illegal because of the fact that the plaintiff may have had some secret arrangement with the auctioneer that the property was not to be struck down to a purchaser except when the amount bid was satisfactory to the plaintiff. It is not disputed that the property sold was actually sold to the highest bidder, and there is no claim made by the defendant that the plaintiff made use of a “ puffer ” to bid up the price of the goods sold, as was the case in Bowman v. McClenahan, 20 App. Div. 346. If such a “ puffer ” had been used by the…