A New Jersey judge on Tuesday blasted the teenager who showed “gross disrespect” for her parents, left home and now wants mom and dad to pay almost all her expenses.
Family court Judge Peter Bogaard denied the emergency demand of 18-year-old Rachel Canning to have her folks pick up tuition at Morris Catholic HS, where she’s in the 12th grade and maintaining a 3.5 grade-point average.
In a potential precedent-setting lawsuit, Rachel claims her parents, Sean and Elizabeth Canning, threw her out of their Lincoln Park home, but should still be responsible for paying school tuition, room, board, transportation and other expenses.
Bogaard let the lawsuit go forward, but he had some choice words for Rachel.
He read a wildly disrespectful, expletive-laced voice mail Rachel left for her mom.
“Have you ever seen a young adult show such gross disrespect to a parent in a voice mail?” Bogaard said. “ I don’t see it in my house.”
Bogaard ordered both sides back to court on April 22.
The judge hinted that Rachel might have a tough legal burden to handle.
“The child thumbs her nose at her parents, leaves the house and turns around asking, ‘Now you have to pay me money every week.’ This poses a public-policy issue,” he said.
“It’s a slippery slope.”
For Rachel to win any money from her parents, the teenager will have to show that she was thrown out of their house or feared physical danger, legal experts said.
Sean and Elizabeth Canning said their eldest daughter refused to obey basic household rules and left on her own.
Tuesday’s hearing was the first time Sean and Elizabeth Canning had seen Rachel in person since she left in late October, two days before her birthday.
Both parents cried during the two-hour hearing in Morristown, about 30 miles west of Manhattan, as lawyers traded angry accusations.
Rachel’s lawyer, Tanya Helfand, said the couple hadn’t lifted a finger to contact their daughter or make sure she’s doing OK.
“She is lucky to have her benefactors,” Helfand said of the family caring for Rachel.
“Her relationship with her parents is abusive, in particular her relationship with her father. I’m asking the court to help this vulnerable young woman.”
In court papers, Rachel said her mom has called her fat, while her dad has been “inappropriately affectionate with me.”
“He mentioned frequently that my relationship, in his eyes, was not one of a daughter, but more than that,” Rachel contends.
She stopped short of saying he never touched her unlawfully.
Her parents’ lawyer, Laurie Rush-Masuret, denied all of Rachel’s claims.
The Cannings introduced documents from the state’s Division of Child Protection, showing the parents had been investigated for — and cleared of — abuse allegations.
And the bottom line, Rush-Masuret said, is that Rachel left on her own, explaining, “She has emancipated herself. She doesn’t want to be within her parents’ sphere of influence.”