Parents Spar in Morris Teen's Lawsuit

The nasty case of a Morris County teen suing her parents for living expenses and Catholic school tuition just got a little big uglier.

Rachel Canning, a Lincoln Park 18-year-old and senior at Morris Catholic High School, sued her parents on an emergent basis for more than $600 per week in child support while she stays at a friend’s home in Rockaway Township.

Her parents, Sean and Elizabeth Canning, say the teen left on her own back in October. Rachel Canning says she was kicked out.

A piece of the puzzle that led to the separation back in the fall of 2013, according to court documents, was the teen’s boyfriend, Lucas Kitzmiller. In written testimony, Elizabeth Canning said Kitzmiller’s parents routinely drove her daughter home at all hours of the night while she was drunk, and facilitated underage drinking. Moreover, the mother said, since Rachel Canning began dating Kitzmiller, all she has wanted to do is drink and party on weekends.

Kitzmiller’s dad, Jeff, has fired back.

In an interview with The Daily Mail on dailymail.co.uk, Jeffery Kitzmiller said the Cannings barely know his son, only engaging once in a single handshake, and that “they made their decision about him from that.” 

“If you read the court papers you can see the trend is with every boyfriend she’s had it’s always the boyfriend who’s the bad influence,” Kitzmiller told the website. “We have been dragged into this.”

Kitzmiller is a technical manager at Honeywell in Morristown, according to his LinkedIn profile. The family lives in Mine Hill.

On Tuesday, Judge Peter Bogaard, sitting in Morristown, ruled against Rachel Canning in her request for emergent financial needs. The teen currently is housed in Rockaway Township at the home of her friend, who is the daughter of the township’s former mayor and current Parsippany-Troy Hills attorney John Inglesino. 

A second hearing was scheduled for April 22 in which Kitzmiller will be able to speak, according to the report.