Hit-and-Run $10,000 Reward Turns Sour

This response baffles Rinnig, who has in fact reached out to Koretz's aides. According to Rinnig, "Every time I talk to one of the assistants, I say, 'The Zelmans have totally refused to talk to me.' "

Both Gerta Zelman and Peter Zelman, Benjamin's father, did not respond to L.A. Weekly's repeated phone calls.

PHOTO COURTESY OF OFFICE OF PAUL KORETZ

City Councilman Paul Koretz, MIA on the hit-and-run reward dispute

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More About

• Marvin Rinnig
• Paul Koretz
• Michael Goldman
• Politics
• Local Politics

Roseanna Zelman Ponto, Benjamin's sister, who appeared at the 2010 press conference, told the paper she could only comment, "My parents are the ones who are dealing with it."

In other media stories, the Zelmans claimed that they hadn't yet paid out the reward because they face $3 million in medical bills. But according to California law, several other parties would be responsible for the payments before the family.

Attorney Gregory Caplan, who specializes in hit-and-runs, notes that the guilty driver often is required to pay restitution that covers medical bills.

Caplan says, "The person who's convicted would be responsible for paying their restitution to make the person whole again."

But attorney Ellyn S. Garofalo, who represents hit-and-run driver Goldman, says simply, "There is no order of restitution now in place" from the court. Such an order normally would be sought early on by the district attorney, but court documents show that the last restitution hearing was on Feb. 23, 2011, and the judge did not order Goldman to pay the family's bills.

Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the DA, says that's because the Zelman family itself "never presented anything to ask for restitution" such as medical bills and other required documents.

Zelman also is likely to be covered by workers' compensation because he was at work when struck down, says Zachary H. Sacks, an veteran attorney who defends workers' compensation claims. If that's the case, Sacks says, "The employer has the responsibility for paying all the medical bills if they're reasonable and necessary."

Unable to hire a lawyer or investigator — and with Koretz having washed his hands of this once-pressing case — Rinnig hopes that going public with his unusual situation will prompt the Zelmans to pay him the reward.

It's money he's not hesitant to say he needs.

"My apartment is going condo," he says, and large swaths of West Hollywood and surrounding areas are growing too costly for all but the affluent. "If I'm gonna stay in L.A., my rent is gonna go up three times."

This matter is personal in another way for the local shutterbug. In the late 1990s, Rinnig's then-fiancée was partially paralyzed with brain damage after the car she was driving was struck multiple times. The once-happy couple never married.

Aside from the reward money, he says, that experience prompted him to help. "You're supposed to show support to lift their spirits," he says of victims, "so they have that desire to survive."

Reach the writer at jessicapauline@ gmail.com.