Skating Instructor Drops Lawsuit Against Lakewood

The lawsuit filed by a former skating instructor at Winterhurst against the city of Lakewood was dropped in US District Court in Cleveland this week.

The lawsuit, filed by Patryk Szalasny in US District Court, claimed — among other charges — that he was wrongfully terminated from his positions as an ice-skating instructor.

Szalasny dropped the lawsuit, and the city is off the hook.

“The parties came to an agreeable resolution,” said Lakewood Law Director Kevin Butler, adding that the outcome of the resolution is confidential because the resolution was done in mediation.

“I can tell you that, from Lakewood’s standpoint, that the city is released from the lawsuit and will not contribute any dollar amount to the settlement.”

The city of Lakewood was poised to “vigorously” defend the lawsuit after a former instructor at filed a complaint against the city as well as Ice Land USA.

Szalasny and his wife, Jessica Szalasny, were asked by Winterhurst general manager Mike Shockley not to return to the ice arena in July 2011, according to correspondence between their attorney, the city of Lakewood and Ice Land USA. 

The letters were obtained through a public records request.

Shockley cited a conflict of interest, after the Szalasnys promoted their lessons at other facilities.

The complaint contends that Szalasny was wrongfully terminated.

“We felt all along that the city didn’t have anything to do with this figure skating coach,” Butler added. “We didn’t even know who he was until after the dispute arose. We were brought into the lawsuit ostensibly because we’re the owners of the building.”

In May of 2012, in letters to the city and the ice arena, Richard Panza — Patryk Szalasny’s attorney — asked that both teachers be reinstated to their positions.

It’s not clear whether they were reinstated as part of the settlement.

The city hasn’t managed the facility since 2008.