[8] In March 2017, the Supreme Court began hearing Rayney's claim against the state for compensation over a WA Police media conference in September 2007, during which a senior officer called him "the prime and only suspect" in the death of his wife.
"[11] In a judgment handed down on 15 December 2017, Judge Chaney ruled that the officer's words "in their entirety, bore the imputation that the plaintiff murdered his wife" and awarded preliminary damages of $600,000 "for the harm to his reputation, personal hurt and distress caused.
[15] The West Australian estimated that amounts owing to lawyers engaged in the contest would swell the state's total payout to $13 million.
[16] In January 2018, Rayney lodged an appeal against the judgment, seeking an increase in the damages component of the awarded compensation, which covered only three years' loss of income—from when the defamation was uttered, to when he was charged with his wife's murder in December 2010.
[18] In April 2020, that appeal was dismissed by the full bench of the WA Supreme Court and he was struck off the West Australian roll of practitioners for "professional misconduct" and "knowingly giving false evidence".