The ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday found the company he was working for as an independent contractor did not breach the duty of care owed to worker Dominic Fischetti.

Mr Fischetti was asked to help out on a job by a former boss, after a request of the director of Classic Constructions, in 2005.

The job was to remove heavy pieces of concrete that had been excised from a driveway at a home in Nicholls. A neighbour had complained the newly laid concrete was encroaching on his property, so it needed to be removed.

He was operating as an independent contractor, and not an employee of Classic Constructions.

Mr Fischetti and his former boss began to lift chunks of the concrete into the truck, struggling under the weight.

As he lifted the third piece, one of his legs almost bucked under him.

One of his knees went to the ground and he felt "something go" in his back, also describing it as a "twitch in his back".

He suffered severe back pain which lasted years before he eventually gave up work.

Mr Fischetti launched a civil case against Classic Constructions in 2008 and was awarded $822,641 in 2013.

The company appealed against the decision, and a full bench of the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday found in its favour.

The decision means he will have to pay back any money that has already been paid out to him.

The chief issue at appeal arose due to Classic Constructions arguing that its director had never told either Mr Fischetti or the other man how to remove the concrete.

It argued both men had sufficient experience to work out how to do the removal, a relatively simple task, safely.

The company said it had never impeded Mr Fischetti from doing it in another way he thought may be safer.

But Mr Fischetti argued that the director of Classic Constructions had constrained him in the manner in which he should remove the large chunks of concrete.

Evidence was given at the original hearing in which the Nicholls home owner, who had the work done by Classic Constructions and Mr Fischetti, described Mr Fischetti as a "man who was clearly running his own concreting business".

Mr Fischetti also gave evidence, saying his old boss had arranged the job. He had expressed concern about the heaviness of the concrete chunks, but agreed with the other man when he said they should try to lift it while they were there.

He agreed he had never spoken to the director of Classic Constructions about the work, and that there would not have been a problem with getting a bobcat on site.

Mr Fischetti said the company's director was frugal and wanted to avoid spending unnecessarily, something that influenced his decision.

But the court, comprised of Justice Richard Refshauge, Chief Justice Helen Murrell, and Justice Burns, found there was no breach of any duty of care by the company.

"In this case, there was no duty cast on Classic Constructions to give any greater directions or to take further precautions than it did to protect Mr Fischetti from injury in the circumstances, given the nature of the task and Mr Fischetti's experience," the judges found.

The court also ruled that Mr Fischetti was guilty of contributory negligence, at a level of 50 per cent.