Luna, Jose

Defendant Northern Pipeline, insured by American Zurich Insurance Company, filed a Petition for Removal challenging a WCJ's procedural decision related to medical-legal discovery and the timing of permanent disability proceedings. Defendant argued, among other things, that the statute of limitations was a threshold issue and that the costs of additional discovery constituted irreparable harm. The Appeals Board, adopting the WCJ's report, found that removal is an extraordinary remedy requiring a showing of substantial prejudice or irreparable harm that reconsideration cannot adequately address. The Board held that medical-legal discovery costs do not constitute irreparable harm because Labor Code section 4061(i) requires an AME/QME evaluation before trial on permanent disability, and section 4064(a) makes defendant liable for those costs. The Petition for Removal was denied.