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Student lawsuit settled
 Jessica Lishinski, right, seen here with her sister Jaime, was killed in an inline skating accident in Duluth in May, 1999. Her family and the city recently reached a settlement. Jessica enjoyed writing, and was an aviation major.
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The family of a former SCSU student, who died after an inline skating accident, has finally reached a settlement with the city of Duluth.
Jessica Ann Lishinski, 21, had been skating along Lake Superior on the city's Lakewalk in May 1999.
When she reached a fork in the path Lishinski chose the one that went behind a stage and closer to the lake. However, as she turned the corner around the stage the path turned into to steps and gravel. Lishinski lost control and fell 30 feet to the shore. Her head hit a rock, and she died three days later.
Lishinski's family filed suit against the city of Duluth for negligence, which went all the way to the Minnesota Supreme Court. The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled in favor of the family.
The Duluth City Council agreed to pay $200,000 in a settlement to the family. The city has also agreed to hire a safety consultant to study the Lakewalk. Of the $200,000 settlement, $10,000 is to be used for the recommended safety improvements.
"We didn't want any other family to have to go through what we went though," said Gary Lishinski, her father of Virginia, Minn.
Recently, a railing has been put up to block off the dangerous cliff. Warning signs were also erected, and "rumble strips" were cut into the pavement to alert skaters and bikers of danger.
"There is still a safety hazard," Gary said. "We know someone who fell after the railing was put up and suffered injuries to hips from slamming into the railing. She was out of school for months."
Jessica was a mass communications major and had planned to be associate editor of the University Chronicle in the fall of 2000.
"Jessica set the bar so high with her reporting, writing, resourcefulness and analytical abilities that she was almost in a class of her own," said her advisor, Michael Vadnie.
At the time of the accident she doing a summer internship with Lake Superior Magazine in Duluth.
"She was always writing. As early as second grade she was showing talent," Gary recalled.
Jessica's younger sister, Jaime, 21, is currently a senior at SCSU.
"She was just so inspirational. I looked to her for everything (so it was like) losing a part of myself," she said, adding that she chose to come to SCSU after visiting her sister here.
"She loved St. Cloud," she said. "The reason I chose here was because of her."
Jessica was also survived by her mother, Ann, and her brother, Matt, 19.
Lishinski had many interests and plans for the future. In addition to writing, she was an aviation major who had her pilots license.
"Her dream job was to write for National Geographic and fly herself to all of the destinations," Gary said.
"All parents want to watch her children grow up, and we're going to miss that," he said. "We're going to miss the future."
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