The trial judge's reasoning came from neither side - and the worker never got to answer it
The NSW Court of Appeal ordered a rehearing of a coal miner's back-injury claim, finding the trial judge made two errors of law.
In a decision handed down on July 21, 2026, the Court of Appeal set aside a District Court verdict that had gone in the employer's favour and sent the case back for redetermination.
The worker had spent decades in coal mining and joined Clarence Colliery Pty Limited in April 2021. He claimed compensation under the Workers Compensation Act 1987 (NSW). He said he injured his lower back on September 20, 2022, while changing in the mine bathhouse - on his account, he removed his shirt, twisted to hang it, and felt what he described in evidence as a "thud" in his back. He later had surgery, on December 14, 2022.
The single incident was not his only argument, and that became central to the appeal.
His pleaded case also said that "[o]ver the course of [his] employment, he developed intermittent back pain due to repetitive heavy lifting in the course of his employment." Under the version of the law that applies to coal miners, aggravating a disease can itself amount to an "injury," provided employment was a contributing factor. So the claim ran on two tracks: a specific incident, and a gradual aggravation over years of work.
That distinction matters for anyone who assesses injury claims. The two are separate legal routes, and a claim can fail on one and still stand...
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