Howard Courts was chasing a recalcitrant sheep on the top deck of his 4.5-metre high trailer on November 27, 2008, when he stood up and came into contact with the high-voltage uninsulated wire.

The electricity passed from his head through his body and out via the toes of his left foot, knocking him unconscious.

Mr Courts, a father-of-four, was flown from Wapweelah, a 24,000-hectare property 96 kilometres north of Bourke, to Sydney and in the following months underwent several skin grafts, debridement and amputation of his left leg.

In the NSW Supreme Court on Wednesday, damages were assessed at $1,094,000.

Justice Christine Adamson found Country Energy, which installed the power line, had a duty to take reasonable precautions to prevent contact between people, vehicles and the line.

He said the accident would not have happened had the power line been six metres high, in accordance with Country Energy's own design guidelines.

However, at the spot where it came into contact with Mr Courts, the wire had a ground clearance of 5.65 metres.

But Mr Courts' payout was reduced by 40 per cent with the court finding he was "contributorily negligent" for parking his 25.6-metre long truck under the power line.

While there were no warning signs, the presence of the line was obvious from the ground and Mr Courts was aware of it, except at the critical moment when he was distracted by the sheep.

A reasonable person in Mr Courts' position would have realised that, with the glare of the sun and the unpredictability of sheep, he wouldn't be paying attention to the power line when climbing around the upper deck of his truck, Justice Adamson said.

Property owner Phillip Ridge was ordered to pay one-third of the $656,542 awarded to Mr Courts.

Justice Adamson found Mr Ridge was in breach of his duty of care to take reasonable precautions not to expose Mr Courts to the risk of electric shock.

Mr Ridge had a duty to tell Mr Courts not to park under the power line to unload the sheep, and that duty extended through the station manager who was on site at the time.

Mr Courts drove road trains and prime movers to supplement his farming income and he had been to Wapweelah to pick up and deliver stock 19 times since 2001.

Following a "painful and arduous rehabilitation" he has become re-licensed to drive trucks but his capacity to do heavy work has been substantially compromised and he had to sell the family farm, causing him considerable anguish, the court heard.