NEC ELECTRONICS and MITSUI SUMITOMO MARINE MANAGEMENT REBECCA BURSON BROWN WORKERS’ COMPENSATION APPEALS BOARDSTATE OF CALIFORNIAREBECCA BURSON BROWN, Applicant,vs.NEC ELECTRONICS and MITSUI SUMITOMOMARINE MANAGEMENT, Defendants.Case No. ADJ8118860(Sacramento District Office)OPINION AND ORDER DENYING PETITION FOR REMOVAL Defendant has filed a timely, verified Petition for Removal, requesting that the Appeals Board rescind the Order Denying Petition for 3rd Party Credit dated June 5, 2012, wherein the workers’ compensation administrative law judge (WCJ) denied defendant’s Petition for 3rd Party Credit without prejudice. Defendant contends that “the employer did not get the opportunity to prove that there was no fault attributable to them or that there was fault which goes to other parties within that lawsuit…, thus depriving the defendants of due process” (page 6). Applicant has filed a Response, stating: “The parties were thought to have had a settlement in this case. The matter should remain with the Trial Judge to approve a settlement.” No settlement documents have been filed in EAMS. Applicant, while employed as a process maintenance tech on April 8, 2009, claims to have sustained an industrial injury to her back and other body systems when she slipped on a wet floor. Applicant sued a third party and settled that claim. Defendant filed a petition for credit pursuant to Labor Code section 3861. The WCJ denied the petition without prejudice, noting that defendant had not specified net recovery to applicant and that applicant had objected. In his Report and Recommendation, the WCJ notes that the denial of defendant’s petition is without prejudice and that “in light of applicant’s objection arguing employer negligence, defendant could have simply filed a Declaration of Readiness on the issue of 3rd Party Credit and employer , negligence” (page 3). We agree. While the WCJ could have waited until a party requested a hearing on defe
