A rail worker has been granted the right to sue the Australian Rail Track Corporation over an incident in Barnawartha in 2012, which resulted in his foot being amputated.
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Ryan Dollisson, now 33, is seeking compensation from his then employer CR Rail as well as the ARTC, which owns the rail line, and P&C Excavations, which employed the man who ran over his foot with an excavator.
The driver did not sound the horn to warn people he was reversing, as required.
An order over the incident on December 18, 2012 was handed down by NSW Supreme Court Justice Ian Harrison last week.
"The plaintiff suffered serious injuries, which included but were not limited to a traumatic amputation of his right foot," he said.
Mr Dollisson was taken to Albury hospital by ambulance.
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Lawyers for the ARTC tried to argue Mr Dollisson was not entitled to compensation because his injuries did not reach the threshold of "serious" under Victoria's Accident Compensation Act.
But NSW Supreme Court Justice Ian Harrison dismissed the argument, saying the NSW - not Victorian - laws applied in this case.
The ARTC lawyers also stated Mr Dollisson, who lived in Queensland, knew the law stated he has three years to start legal proceedings for compensation, but he took more than four years.
But Mr Dollisson said his own lawyers in 2014 told him suing was not an option.
"I feel that my duty of care was not in place for me at my workplace," Mr Dollisson said in a statement in 2014.
"Surely someone has to be held accountable for what has happened to me as it has changed my life permanently and definitely not in a good way."
The court heard he accepted a worker compensation payout of $85,250 in 2015.
Mr Dollisson was only told in 2015 that he had been given incorrect legal advice and he was entitled to sue the companies.
Justice Harrison said Mr Dollisson had taken "all reasonable steps" since the incident and gave him an extension of time to apply for compensation, saying all parties would get a fair trial.
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