Tracy's lawyer has questions for Sea Isle City

Asking "What if . . . ?" is painful for Tracy Hottenstein's relatives, their attorney said, but it's not pointless.

In a claim notice that she sent to Sea Isle City on Tuesday reserving the right to file a $10 million lawsuit, lawyer Lynanne Wescott fired off some strong "what ifs" directly at the city, its police force and the Polar Bear Plunge, which attracts thousands of tourists for one weekend every winter.

Hottenstein, 35, of Conshohocken, who was last seen leaving the Ocean Drive bar at 2:15 a.m. Feb. 15, had injured arms and legs, broken ribs and had fallen into water before her body was found on a mudbank near the Sea Isle City Marina, on 42nd Place, about 8 a.m., Wescott wrote.

"The Sea Isle City police did not patrol that area late that night and did not find Ms. Hottenstein," Wescott wrote. "If she had been found earlier, she could have lived."

The Cape May County Prosecutor's Office was to discuss the case at a news conference today.Wescott said that neither she nor Hottenstein's family had been notified of the news conference.

Prosecutors withheld the cause and manner of death pending toxicology results, but Wescott said that it is believed that Hottenstein died of hypothermia.

The prosecutor's office has not labeled the death suspicious. Hottenstein's family said that a man who was with Tracy at one or more bars the evening before her body was found was interviewed several times by authorities. The Daily News was unsuccessful in trying to reach him for comment.

Along with financial damages, Hottenstein's family is also asking for better control of drinking during the Polar Bear Plunge, better safety measures at the city-owned marina, and regular police patrols of "hazardous city property."

"The Hottensteins are doing this because they want answers and they want remedies so no one else would have to go through this," Wescott told the Daily News. "My belief is that she suffered before she died, and she could have lived if someone had found her, and I think someone could have found her."

Wescott said that Hottenstein's injuries were "consistent with falling from unsafe and hazardous docks which were not safeguarded in any way."

"Sea Isle City caused the injury, damage, or loss," Wescott wrote.

Paul Baldini, Sea Isle City solicitor, said that he was not aware of the letter. The city clerk could not be reached for comment yesterday.