LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT; SEDGWICK CLAIMS MANAGEMENT SERVICES, INC. MARIA LOPEZ WORKERS’ COMPENSATION APPEALS BOARDSTATE OF CALIFORNIAMARIA LOPEZ, Applicant,vs.LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT; SEDGWICK CLAIMSMANAGEMENT SERVICES, INC., Defendants.Case No. ADJ116573 (LAO 0864904)OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING PETITION FOR REMOVAL AND DECISIONAFTER REMOVAL Defendant has filed a timely, verified Petition for Removal, requesting that the Appeals Board rescind the Order dated August 23, 2012, wherein the workers’ compensation administrative law judge (WCJ) ordered this case off calendar and ordered the parties to go back to agreed medical evaluators (AMEs) to determine if there is new and further disability. Defendant contends that applicant has not produced any medical evidence that her condition has deteriorated in the two years subsequent to her filing a petition to reopen for new and further disability, that the WCJ should not have ordered further medical discovery, that discovery should have been closed, and that the case should have been set for trial. We have not received an answer from applicant. Applicant, while employed as a teacher’s aide on October 19, 2005, sustained an industrial injury to her neck, back, bilateral knees and psyche. On December 1, 2009, she received a stipulated Award that her permanent disability was 45% and that there was need for further medical treatment. On September 21, 2010, she filed a petition to reopen for new and further disability. On March 1, 2011, she was examined by Bal Rajagopalan, M.D., who recommended further medical treatment and did not discuss permanent disability. On July 30, 2012, defendant filed a Declaration of Readiness to Proceed (DOR), requesting that the case be set for a mandatory settlement conference (MSC) on the issue of applicant’s petition to , reopen and stating that there is not medical report to support any new and further disability. Applicant did not file
