The family of a woman who died after attending the "Polar Bear Plunge" (not the famed Coney Island one) in 2009 is suing 19 defendants who they believe are culpable in her death. The body of the woman, Tracy Hottenstein, was found in Sea Isle City, NJ after the event in Feb. 2009; Hottenstein only attended the plunge, and didn't participate in the event. Authorities say she died accidentally from hypothermia and acute intoxication; they believe she jumped in the water later that night. But just because it was an accident doesn't mean the family won't be suing literally anyone who encountered their daughter that fateful evening.
Those 19 defendants include the Polar Bear organization, Sea Isle City, the owners of two bars Hottenstein drank at that night, the couple who invited her to dinner at their home that evening, the hospital where she died, the doctor who pronounced her dead, and the Sea Isle City Police Department, as well as certain individual officers. Most prominently, the lawsuit alleges that the city's permissive attitude toward alcohol during the annual event led to Hottenstein's death: "The Polar Bear Plunge is a state-created danger ... for encouraging people to expose themselves to frigid air and water, risking hypothermia."
The lawyer for the family acknowledged that many will argue that Hottenstein was responsible for herself, especially since her death did not have anything to do with the event and happened hours after it had ended, but the lawyer also argues, "A lot of mistakes were made at many places along the line. Someone could have intervened and they didn't." But will punishing bar owners for legally serving her alcohol make any difference?
