MinterEllison

Western Power, Ventia, and a property owner found jointly liable for loss arising from the Parkerville bushfire are equally liable to each other for any costs orders in favour of the plaintiffs in the case, after a judge found he could not disturb existing costs orders in a new proceeding.

Resolving a split between courts, the High Court has confirmed that judges have power to make soft class closure orders, which require class action members to register before mediation to participate in any resulting settlement.

A witness in the Ben Roberts-Smith case threatened to sue Nine and journalist Nick McKenzie, the Full Court has learned, as the former soldier seeks to reopen his appeal following the release of a secret recording of a conversation between McKenzie and the witness.

A court has allowed Ben Roberts-Smith to admit into evidence a secret recording of Nine journalist Nick McKenzie, as the former soldier makes a fresh bid to revive his failed defamation case.

Nine journalist Nick McKenzie was pressed during cross-examination on Thursday in Ben Roberts-Smith's bid to re-open his defamation appeal on whether he has used deceptive methods or 'subterfuge' in his reporting.

Mayfield Development's competition case against NSW Ports over agreements to privatise two ports has made it to the High Court, with the developer pressing its argument that derivative Crown immunity did not apply to the port authority.

Two Nine in-house lawyers, as well as senior editors and journalists, are facing a contempt of court bid by individuals who are the subject of a suppression order in journalist Antoinette Lattouf's unfair dismissal case against the ABC.

Real estate investment firms Dexus and Ho-Group have convinced the valuer general of NSW to knock roughly $26 million off its initial valuation of a Sydney office sold by Ho-Group last year that was used in a land tax assessment. 

In their fight against oral subpoenas they say are fishing for broader grounds of appeal, counsel for two MinterEllison lawyers said on Tuesday that a silk acting for Ben Roberts-Smith should apologise for remarks in open court last week.

A judge has taken issue with an argument by disgraced solider Ben Roberts-Smith that a Nine journalist threw his solicitors "under the bus", saying it suggested the MinterEllison lawyers engaged in misconduct in the absence of an appeal claim against them.