Law360, New York (May 21, 2013, 4:46 PM EDT) -- In Alabama, when a property owner fails to pay his ad valorem property taxes, his property may be sold at a public auction to the highest bidder (the "tax purchaser"). Statutory law in Alabama provides that the owner of the property who failed to pay the taxes, and certain other parties, such as a lender holding a mortgage on the property, have the subsequent right to redeem the property by paying the back taxes, the accrued interest and any excess bid paid by the tax purchaser at the tax sale. However, the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals recently addressed the rights of redemption by various parties and reached a decision that not only penalizes a lender for redeeming property in order to protect its interest but also provides a windfall to a property owner who failed to pay his property taxes and allowed his property to be sold at a tax sale....