Shockingly, judge rules against 18-year old who sued her parents for making her leave the house.

Guess the sad face didn’t work.

MORRISTOWN — A Superior Court judge today refused to order a Lincoln Park couple to pay private school and college tuition for their 18-year-old daughter who moved out of their house and is suing for financial support.”Do we want to establish a precedent where parents live in basic fear of establishing rules of the house?” Family Division Judge Peter Bogaard asked. Rachel Canning, a senior at Morris Catholic High School, went to court to force her parents, Sean and Elizabeth Canning, to pay her child support, her private school tuition, medical and related bills, college expenses and legal fees. Canning is an honor student and athlete, but her parents have stopped paying her bills because, they say, she would not obey their rules.

Much of today’s hearing focused on the behavior of Rachel, her parents and her boyfriend, with frequent disagreement over facts. Rachel and her boyfriend both had two-day suspensions from school, and Bogaard said he thought it had resulted from her “vulgar postings” on social media about her parents. The judge also cited certifications submitted by the Sean and Elizabeth Canning about their daughter’s alleged history of staying out and drinking during the week. Once, he said, she was driven home by her boyfriend’s parents at 3 a.m. In addition, Bogaard said, Rachel was removed from her position as captain of the cheerleading squad and from the campus ministry.

Poor Rachel. Suspended from school, lost her position as cheerleading captain and kicked out of campus ministry. Tough couple of weeks for her. And for the life of me I can’t figure out why the campus ministry didn’t want her around. I mean, what kind of ministry frowns upon drunkenness, vulgar postings on social media and suspensions from school? Seems a little extreme to me. Campus Ministry, you’re about to get sued all up in here.

Seriously, good job Judge Peter Bogaard. Well done.

Parents throw daughter out of house when she turns 18, daughter then sues parents. Huh?

MORRISTOWN, N.J. — An honor student and athlete who claims her parents threw her out of their home when she turned 18 has taken the highly unusual step of suing them for immediate financial support and to force them to pay for her college education. Rachel Canning, a cheerleader and lacrosse player at Morris Catholic High School who has aspirations to be a biomedical engineer, filed a lawsuit last week in the Family Part of state Superior Court in Morristown that seeks a judge’s declaration that she is nonemancipated and dependent as a student on her parents for support.

That’s her side of the story. Here’s what her parents have to say:

“We love our child and miss her. This is terrible. It’s killing me and my wife. We have a child we want home. 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,’” Sean Canning said. The father said that he and his wife did stop paying the Morris Catholic tuition and have kept Rachel’s car because they paid for it. The father contended that Rachel moved out because she didn’t want to abide by simple household rules — be respectful, keep a curfew, return “borrowed” items to her two sisters, manage a few chores, and reconsider or end her relationship with a boyfriend the parents believe is a bad influence.“We’re heartbroken, but what do you do when a child says ‘I don’t want your rules but I want everything under the sun and you to pay for it?’” Canning said, adding that his daughter’s college fund is available to her and not withdrawn or re-allocated, as she has alleged.

Good God. My thoughts:

• This is the oldest problem in the book, a daughter is dating some dude that her parents don’t approve of. Big deal.
• She wouldn’t follow their rules so they made her move. That’s their right. Hey, they pay the bills, they make the rules.
• Why couldn’t this chick sneak out of the house to meet the guy like every other daughter whose mom and dad hated their boyfriend?
• Suing mom and dad? Really? This girl has zero chance to win this lawsuit. None.
• I can’t really call this the Wussification of America. Maybe the Stupification of America?

What’s happening, America?