Only ONE case yields pcfg_openfile: unable to check htaccess file, ensure it is readable and that 'file' is executable

I am running Drupal 7 on a cPanel server that I administer. I am using cPanel 82.0.12 with Apache 2.4 and PHP 7.2. My site is working great except for one function that returns a 500 error. The error in the log is "AH00529: /home/client/public_html/folder/.htaccess pcfg_openfile: unable to check htaccess file, ensure it is readable and that '/home/client/public_html/folder/' is executable" The htaccess file is, therefore, working for the entire rest of the site. I am looking for any ideas why it would not work for this one task. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks, Steve