Teen Suing Parents Returns Home

After two weeks under an international spotlight for suing her parents, Lincoln Park’s Rachel Canning has returned home after more than four months.

The 18-year-old Morris Catholic High School senior went home, according to nj.com, and a press conference at her parents’ attorney’s office is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Canning filed suit against her parents, Sean and Elizabeth Canning, seeking more than $600 per week in support while she stayed with a friend in Rockaway Township. That friend just so happened to be the daughter of John Inglesino – the attorney for Parsippany-Troy Hills Township. Inglesino is a former Rockaway Township mayor and former Morris County Freeholder, and bankrolled the legal fees Rachel Canning needed to get the lawsuit moving.

According to nj.com, Angelo Sarno, the attorney representing Elizabeth and Sean Canning, said, “Her return home is not contingent on any financial and/or other considerations.”

As part of the suit against her parents, Rachel Canning asked for current tuition of more than $5,000 to Morris Catholic, fees for college applications, living and travel expenses, and future tuition payments for whichever college or university she decides to attend.

A judge in Morristown denied the request last week. 

Written testimony in court documents from Rachel Canning, her parents, and Inglesino revealed a nasty course of events in the past year. Canning left her parents’ home in October 2013, two days shy of turning 18. She stayed with her boyfriend Lucas Kitzmiller and his family in Mine Hill for two days before setting up shop at the Inglesino’s for the next four months.

Elizabeth and Sean Canning testified that it was Kitzmiller who was a bad influence on their daughter and that she became involved in and “obsessed” with drinking alcohol and partying on weekends.

An email between the parents and the oldest of their three daughters showed an ultimatum was given: the boyfriend or us. For a few months, it seemed Rachel Canning chose her boyfriend.

Canning is still a student at Morris Catholic High School and is scheduled to graduate this spring. A second court hearing was previously scheduled for April 22. The status of that session is not yet known.