Opinion
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FREDERICO JUAREZ, Applicant v. LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY, insured by STARR INDEMNITY & LIABILITY COMPANY, administered by SEDGWICK CMS, Defendants No. ADJ17802059 Workers' Compensation Appeals Board State of California August 31, 2023OPINION AND ORDER DENYING PETITION FOR REMOVAL
CRAIG SNELLINGS, COMMISSIONER
We have considered the allegations of the Petition for Removal and the contents of the report of the workers' compensation administrative law judge (WCJ) with respect thereto. Based on our review of the record and based upon the WCJ's analysis of the merits of petitioner's arguments in the WCJ's report, we will deny removal.
Removal is an extraordinary remedy rarely exercised by the Appeals Board. (Cortez v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd. (2006) 136 Cal.App.4th 596, 599, fn. 5 [71 Cal.Comp.Cases 155]; Kleemann v. Workers' Comp. Appeals Bd. (2005) 127 Cal.App.4th 274, 280, fn. 2 [70 Cal.Comp.Cases 133].) The Appeals Board will grant removal only if the petitioner shows that substantial prejudice or irreparable harm will result if removal is not granted. (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, § 10955(a); see also Cortez, supra; Kleemann, supra.) Also, the petitioner must demonstrate that reconsideration will not be an adequate remedy if a final decision adverse to the petitioner ultimately issues. (Cal. Code Regs., tit. 8, § 10955(a).) Here, based upon the WCJ's analysis of the merits of petitioner's arguments, we are not persuaded that substantial prejudice or irreparable harm will result if removal is denied and/or that reconsideration will not be an adequate remedy if the matter ultimately proceeds to a final decision adverse to petitioner.
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For the foregoing reasons,
IT IS ORDERED that the Petition for Removal is DENIED.
I CONCUR, KATHERINE A. ZALEWSKI, CHAIR JOSEPH V. CAPURRO, COMMISSONER