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| FILE - In this March 4, 2014, file photo, Rachel Canning smiles during a hearing at the Morris County Courthouse, Tuesday, March 4, 2014, in Morristown, N.J. Canning, the New Jersey honor student who sued to get her parents to support her after she moved out of their home, has reunited with her parents. The Star-Ledger of Newark reports that the lawyer representing Canning's parents said in a statement Wednesday, March 12, 2014, that the 18-year-old's return is not contingent on any financial or other considerations. |
ROSELAND, N.J.
(AP) -- The New Jersey honor student who sued to get her parents to
support her after she moved out of their home has reunited with them,
and the family is now asking for privacy.
Rachel
Canning moved back in with her parents after speaking with her mother
Tuesday, but without any promises of financial support or other
consideration, according to lawyers for the teen and her parents.
A
state judge Wednesday denied a request from Canning's attorney asking
for a court-appointed guardian for the 18-year-old to be paid for by her
parents. The denied application for immediate relief also requested
that the courtroom be closed for future hearings, the records sealed and
all parties prohibited from speaking to the media.
"It
is critical that if Rachel does dismiss this matter that she does so of
her own free will and not due to the extreme pressure of her parents
and the media," her attorney, Tanya N. Helfand, wrote in the court
filing.
Phone and email messages to Helfand were not immediately returned.
Angelo Sarno, the lawyer for Cannings' parents, said that the notoriety surrounding the suit had damaged the family.
"This
is a matter that should have been brought in some counselor's office,
not into a courtroom," Sarno said.
"There's a long road ahead, this is
not something that's going to happen overnight. The point of this
process?
The healing needs to begin."
Last
week, State Superior Court Judge Peter Bogaard denied the teen's request
for child support and to have her parents pay her remaining high school
tuition. But the judge scheduled an April court date to consider the
over-arching question of whether the Cannings are obligated to
financially support their adult daughter.
Bogaard
sounded skeptical of some of the claims in the lawsuit, saying it could
lead to teens "thumbing their noses" at their parents, leaving home and
then asking for financial support.
"Are we
going to open the gates for 12-year-olds to sue for an Xbox? For
13-year-olds to sue for an iPhone?" he asked. "We should be mindful of a
potentially slippery slope."
Canning left her
parents' house on Oct. 30, two days before she turned 18 after a
tumultuous stretch during which her parents separated and reconciled and
the teen began getting into uncharacteristic trouble at school.
In
court filings, Canning's parents, retired Lincoln Park police Chief
Sean Canning and his wife, Elizabeth, said their daughter voluntarily
left home because she didn't want to abide by reasonable household
rules, such as being respectful, keeping a curfew, doing a few chores
and ending a relationship with a boyfriend her parents say is a bad
influence. They say that shortly before she turned 18, she told her
parents that she would be an adult and could do whatever she wanted.
She
said in her lawsuit that her parents are abusive, contributed to an
eating disorder she developed and pushed her to get a basketball
scholarship. They say they were supportive, helped her through the
eating disorder and paid for her to go to a private school where she
would not get as much playing time in basketball as she would have at a
public school.
Canning had been living in
Rockaway Township with the family of her best friend. The friend's
father, former Morris County Freeholder John Inglesino, was paying for
the lawsuit.
