A public auction is an auction held on the government's behalf to sell either government-owned property, or private property that was seized pursuant to a writ of execution or a similar type of order.
In Gardner v. Ally Fin. Inc., the Court of Appeals of Maryland defined public auction as a method of selling property in a public forum through open and competitive bidding. The Court also noted that both private sales and public auctions must be done in a commercially reasonable way. In addition, transparency is necessary in a public auction to preserve its integrity.
[Last updated in January of 2024 by the Wex Definitions Team]