A teenager in the US who is suing her parents for cash after leaving home has lost the first round of her legal case.

Rachel Canning, 18, has demanded $650 (£390) in weekly child support from her parents at a court in New York.

The cheerleader also wanted her private school tuition fees, a college fund and her lawyers’ fees paid.

Her parents said their daughter voluntarily left home because she did not like their house rules.

Retired police chief Sean Canning and his wife, Elizabeth, said they had asked their daughter to be respectful at home, keep curfews, help with chores and end her relationship with her boyfriend.

At a family court hearing in New York on Tuesday, Miss Canning, from New Jersey, was told her parents would not have to pay child support or her legal costs.

Judge Peter Bogaard warned that her suit could lead to a “slippery slope”, asking: “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?”

Rachel Canning talks to her father Sean Canning during the court case

The school has waived its fees until the case is settled.

Miss Canning claimed her parents threw her out of the family home in November when she turned 18 because they didn’t like her boyfriend.

She claimed they refused to pay for her university education, even after she received acceptance letters for several places.

In court papers, she accused her parents of being abusive, contributing to an eating disorder and pushing her to get a basketball scholarship.

The Cannings, who have two other daughters, said they helped her through the eating disorder and paid for a private school where she would play less basketball than at a state-run school.

Rachel’s parents in court: Retired police chief, Sean (R) and mum Elizabeth

Miss Canning is asking to be declared non-emancipated from her parents which means she is dependent on her parent’s support.

“We love our child and miss her,” Mr Canning told New Jersey newspaper the Daily Record before the hearing.

“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.'”

Miss Canning has been living with the family of her best friend and is thought to have been offered a scholarship worth $20,000 (£12,000) to study biomedical engineering at the University of Vermont.

The case will return to court on 22 April.

BBC and Reuters