Zagorec sued the two men, seeking more than 5.7 million kuna in damages for the ransom he had to give the kidnappers of his son. He stated in his lawsuit that Hypo Alpe Adria Bank, on 24 February 2004, the day after his then underage son was kidnapped, approved an emergency overdraft in his account in the amount of 1.5 million euros so that he could pay the ransom. He gave a half of the amount to the kidnappers, and on February 29 returned the rest of the money to the bank. In order to pay back the debt, two months later he took out a loan in the amount of 1.28 million Swiss francs which he must repay until 2024.

A source close to Zagorec's defence said that if the verdict in this case became final, Zagorec would suggest to the state that the damages be used to cover a part of the 39.4 million kuna which he was ordered to give back to the state for stealing jewels from a Defence Ministry safe in 2000, a crime for which he was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Zagorec has been in prison since October 2008, when Austrian authorities handed him over to Croatia in the case of jewel theft. The Supreme Court upheld the verdict against him in November 2009, after which Zagorec, once the most decorated Croatian generals, was stripped of his rank and medals.

Petrac left prison in late November 2011 after serving more than two-thirds of a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence he had been given for involvement in the kidnapping of Zagorec's son and the extortion of Novi Marof businessman Miroslav Matkun.

Ivan Matekovic was sentenced to seven years in prison for the kidnapping.