North Supply Company paid use taxes under section 144.190, which was later invalidated as unconstitutional. The legislature then repealed the statute in a bill that included an emergency clause so that the bill took effect on the governor's signature. Before the repeal, a taxpayer had three years to request a refund. Three days after the repeal became effective, NSC applied for the three-year refund. The Administrative Hearing Commission affirmed.
Due process requires a refund of the unlawful taxes paid for all three years.
The company was entitled to pursue what appeared to be a clear and certain post-deprivation remedy under the statute, regardless of the availability of the other remedies. The statute's clear and certain remedy was denied. The company should not be penalized for waiting until both the courts and legislature had spoken, and it should have a reasonable time after the statute's repeal to apply for a refund. An earlier case, St. Charles County v. Director of Revenue, applying the two-year limitation period did not raise the due process issue and, therefore, the Court did not address it in that case. NSC asks this Court to declare that the 1996 act repealing the local use tax was unconstitutional as applied, to the extent that it also eliminated the three-year statutory period for obtaining refunds of that tax.