A New Jersey teen who took her parents to court seeking child support after being tossed out of their Lincoln Park home has been shut down after a judge ruled against her, saying the high school cheerleader was "spoiled," the New York Daily News reports.
On Tuesday, Morristown Superior Court Judge Peter Bogaard ruled against Rachel Canning, 18, who sued her parents for expenses and education tuition.
"Do we want to establish a precedent where parents live in basic fear of establishing rules of the house?" Bogaard asked, before denying an emergency order that would have required the teen's parents to pay for her private school tuition and allow her $650 a week in child support.
According to the Daily News, a follow-up hearing is scheduled for April 22. Then the judge will decide if parents Sean and Elizabeth Canning will be required to foot their daughter's college tuition. Rachel Canning is currently a senior honors student at Morris Catholic High School.
That decision will likely hinge on whether the 18-year-old left home because she chose not to follow rules, or if she was asked by her allegedly abusive parents, as Rachel Canning claims in court documents.
Mom and Dad say that they have a fund set aside for her college costs if they are asked to carry the costs.
According to the Daily News, the parents say that their daughter willingly left the home after refusing to ditch her loser boyfriend and failing to do chores or make curfew.
Both parents were seen sobbing in court.
"We love our child and miss her. This is terrible. It's killing me and my wife. We have a child we want home," Sean Canning told the Daily Record of Morristown, N.J. "We're not draconian, and now we're getting hauled into court. She's demanding that we pay her bills, but she doesn't want to live at home and she's saying, 'I don’t want to live under your rules.' "
Since leaving her parents' home, Rachel Canning has lived in the Rockaway, N.J., home of classmate Jaime Inglesino, and Inglesino’s father, John Inglesino, has paid the $12,000 lawyer fees for Canning thus far.
"My parents have rationalized their actions by blaming me for not following their rules," Rachel Canning said in her court papers, according to the Daily Record. "They stopped paying my high school tuition to punish the school and me and have redirected my college fund, indicating their refusal to afford me an education as a punishment."
Read more at the New York Daily News.