The truck driver, who was employed by Linfox Australia at the time, was injured when he was jolted around the cabin of his road train transporting diesel when it crossed a floodway on the mine's entrance road in January 2016.

The driver said he suffered a spinal fracture and ongoing anxiety, depression and PTSD after being forced to drive at 60 kilometres per hour over two deep trenches in the floodway to prevent his load of 118,000 litres of diesel from jack-knifing the road train.

The driver was required to maintain a certain speed in order to get his vehicle over an upcoming hill and the mine's operator, BHP Billiton Iron Ore, had admitted a breach of care.

BHP Billiton did dispute the level of injuries and disabilities suffered by the driver and his current level of disability and claimed that the driver's failure to wear a seatbelt at the time of the accident was contributory negligence on his part.

Justice Richard Cavanagh found, in his decision handed down last week, that there was "no evidence to support the proposition that he was not wearing a seatbelt" after hearing expert testimony.

"The defendant [BHP Billiton] fails on its allegation of contributory negligence," Justice Cavanagh stated.

"If I engage in some physical activity such as mowing the lawn or doing some modest lifting, it can aggravate my back and I will have increased pain which usually comes on slowly over the next few hours," the truck driver submitted to the court.

"When this happens, I just take a few more painkillers and rest until the pain subsides...I continue to wear my brace every day for approximately 12 hours a day."

In other news

The Wagga man returned to heavy truck driving for 14 hours per day, four or five days per week in September 2020 at the age of 71 and told the court that he intends to continue to do so until the age of 75.

The truck driver made an agreement to repay a maximum of $250,000 to Linfox from his prior $300,000 payout if his case against BHP Billiton was successful.

Justice Cavanagh deducted nearly $60,000 from the truck driver's damages from BHP Billiton to reflect the net compensation he had already received from Linfox.

The verdict of $581,235 in favour of the truck driver included damages, medical expenses and lost income and superannuation from not being able to work for a period of four years.

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