Ex parte First United Security Bank and Paty Holdings, LLC

Summary

The Supreme Court of Alabama held that a foreclosure purchaser may qualify as the owner entitled to excess proceeds from a tax sale under Ala. Code § 40-10-28. The court rejected a temporal limitation tying ownership solely to the person listed on the tax assessment at the time of the tax sale, reversed the Court of Civil Appeals, and remanded.

Holdings

1. A foreclosure purchaser that acquires the property after the tax sale but before payment of the excess tax-sale proceeds may qualify as the "owner" entitled to receive those proceeds under § 40-10-28.
2. Section 40-10-28 does not limit the term "owner" to the person listed on the tax assessment at the time of the tax sale and does not impose a temporal requirement that ownership exist at the time of that sale.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a purchaser at a foreclosure sale that occurs after a tax sale but before payment of the excess tax-sale proceeds is an "owner" entitled to those proceeds under Alabama Code § 40-10-28.
2. Whether First Union National Bank of Florida v. Lee County Commission imposed a temporal requirement that the person entitled to excess tax-sale proceeds must have been the assessed owner at the time of the tax sale.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded