§2042. Payment under protest

A. Any person protesting the payment of any amount found due by the secretary shall remit to the secretary the amount found to be due and at that time shall give the secretary notice of intention to file suit for the recovery of such fee, or the portions thereof which are protested.

B. Upon receipt of this notice, the amount remitted shall be placed in an escrow account and held by the secretary or his duly authorized representative for a period of thirty days. If suit is filed for recovery of the fee within the thirty-day period, the funds in the account shall be further held pending the outcome of the suit. If the person protesting the fee prevails, the secretary shall refund the amount to the claimant, with interest at the rate established pursuant to Civil Code Article 2924(B)(3) from the date the funds were received by the secretary to the date of such refund. Payments of interest authorized by this Subsection shall be made from funds derived from current collections of the fee to be refunded.

C. This Section shall afford a legal remedy and right of action in the Nineteenth Judicial District Court for full and complete adjudication of any and all questions arising in the enforcement of fees established under this Subtitle as to the legality of the fee or the method of enforcement thereof. In such action, service of process upon the secretary shall be sufficient service, and he shall be the sole necessary and proper party defendant in any such action.

Acts 1993, No. 118, §1.