<p>Rachel has dropped her suit. However, I note that according to the link above (Repeated here <a href=“NJ teen Rachel Canning agrees to dismiss lawsuit against her parents - nj.com”>NJ teen Rachel Canning agrees to dismiss lawsuit against her parents - nj.com; ) when asked if the allegations of abuse she made were truthful, she said yes. And Rachel does NOT have a new attorney. She told her attorney she was ending the suit. </p>
<p>I hope that this family heals, whether or not her allegations were true. The parents went through a separation during part of the events that seem to have lead to the suit, so there’s lots of healing that needs to be done. </p>
<p>I’m going to defend Inglesino here. Again, he was NOT her attorney. She was represented by a female attorney who tried and failed to get a guardian appointed. I don’t think there is any evidence that Inglesino created the media frenzy. He gave a teenage girl a place to live for several months–which didn’t get any publicity at the time AFAIK- and he paid the legal fees for her to bring the action. Many of you think that makes him a horrible person. I don’t think we have enough information to reach that conclusion. Among other things, remember that Rachel had already left home and was living with another family before she moved into the Inglesinos’ and that, while the Cannings said he interfered with their right to discipline her, he did try to work some sort of settlement out with the Cannings before the action was filed. </p>
<p>I’m an attorney–though not in NJ and I don’t practice or know much about family law. However, I’m more than a bit surprised by the extent that some of you think that people never lie in court proceedings and, if they do so, they will invariably be caught and charged with perjury. I lived through a horrible divorce and my ex H said a lot of totally untrue things about me. A lot of my divorced mom friends had similar experiences. I’ve never heard of a judge actually charging someone in a family law case with perjury unless it’s in filling out forms about income and assets and other financial info. It’s more often a matter of “He says this; she says that. Based on all of the evidence, I find her (or his) version more credible.” The person whose version is less credible isn’t charged with perjury. </p>
<p>Again, I’m not saying that Rachel is right here, just that we don’t know. And the fact that the Cannings say that the Inglesinos hosted parties at which minors drank booze does NOT prove that happened…just as the fact that Rachel said her father woke her up to play beer pong in the middle of the night or her mom called her “porky” and constantly demeaned her for her weight to the point that it contributed to an eating disorder is true or untrue. We just don’t know–and we almost certainly never will. </p>