No suit or proceeding shall be maintained in any court for the recovery of any amount alleged to have been erroneously or illegally assessed or collected unless a claim for refund or credit has been duly filed.

Within 90 days after the mailing of the notice of the board’s action upon a claim for refund or credit, the claimant may bring an action against the board on the grounds set forth in the claim in a court of competent jurisdiction in the County of Sacramento for the recovery of the whole or any part of the amount with respect to which the claim has been disallowed.

If the board fails to mail notice of action on a claim within six months after the claim is filed, the claimant may, prior to the mailing of notice by the board, consider the claim disallowed and bring an action against the board on the grounds set forth in the claim for the recovery of the whole or any part of the amount claimed as an overpayment.

Failure to bring suit or action within the time specified in this article constitutes a waiver of all demands against the state on account of any alleged overpayments.

If judgment is rendered for the plaintiff, the amount of the judgment shall first be credited on any fee due from the plaintiff, and the balance shall be refunded to the plaintiff.

In any judgment, interest shall be allowed at the modified adjusted rate per annum established for overpayments pursuant to Section 6591.5, upon the amount found to have been illegally collected from the date of payment of the amount to the date of allowance of credit on account of the judgment, or to a date preceding the date of the refund warrant by not more than 30 days, the date to be determined by the board.

A judgment shall not be rendered in favor of the plaintiff in any action brought against the board to recover any fee paid when the action is brought by or in the name of an assignee of the feepayer paying the fee or by any person other than the person who has paid the fee.

As used in this section, “assignee” does not include a person who has acquired the business of the feepayer which gave rise to the fee and who is thereby a successor in interest to the feepayer.