Section 19-7-61 - Endorsement of claims; filing in district court of Santa Fe county; notice to claimant; procedure; judgment; appeal; costs.
19-7-61. [Endorsement of claims; filing in district court of Santa Fe county; notice to claimant; procedure; judgment; appeal; costs.]
Within sixty days after the filing of any application for refund, the commissioner of public lands shall investigate the facts and shall endorse thereon his approval or disapproval of said claim, in whole or in part, together with such other statement of facts as to him may seem advisable. The commissioner of public lands shall file each such claim, together with his endorsement as herein provided, in the district court of Santa Fe county, New Mexico. Such claim, when so filed, shall be considered as the institution of a proceeding for the determination of the validity of the claim for refund by each such claimant against the commissioner of public lands of the state of New Mexico. Upon the filing of any such claim in said district court, the commissioner of public lands shall notify the claimant, by ordinary mail, at his post-office address shown in the claim for refund, of the fact of the filing of said claim in the district court, and shall at the same time transmit to such claimant a copy of the endorsement of the commissioner on such claim. Within thirty days from the date of said notice, the claimant may file in the district court such additional statement of facts, under oath, relative to the validity of the claim for refund, as he may deem advisable, and shall serve a copy of any such statement so filed, on the commissioner of public lands. It shall be the duty of the district court of Santa Fe county to set a date for the hearing of all claims so filed and such hearing shall be governed by the Rules of Civil Procedure. The district court of Santa Fe county is hereby given jurisdiction to hear and determine all such claims for refund, and it shall make such determination as speedily as possible and without the intervention of jury. Said court shall make findings of fact and conclusions of law and shall set out in its judgment the amount, or amounts, which the claimant is entitled to have refunded to him, and the fund or funds to which the money ordered refunded was credited.
Appeal from any final determination in such cases may be taken to the supreme court of the state, as in ordinary civil action, by either the claimant or the commissioner of public lands, within twenty days from the date of the entry of the judgment from which such appeal is taken. No costs or fees shall be required for the filing of such claims in the district court, the entry of judgment thereon, or for the filing of any appeal in the supreme court of the state. In no event shall any costs of any nature be taxed against the commissioner of public lands. When any judgment entered hereunder shall become final, a certified copy thereof shall be filed with the commissioner of public lands.