Emily Willis’ lawsuit close to settlement after adult star left ‘permanently disabled’

The mother of Emily Willis, who suffered a heart attack and ‘irreversible brain damage’ in 2024, has reportedly almost reached a settlement with the Malibu rehabilitation center who was looking after her.

Willis, an award-winning adult film star who retired in 2022, with aspirations to break into mainstream entertainment.

She was allegedly left permanently disabled after suffering a serious cardiac arrest while attending rehab facility Summit Malibu to treat her ketamine addiction.

According to her mother’s lawsuit, Emily was taking between five to six grams of ketamine a day and weighed just seven stone two pounds.

The 27-year-old, whose real name is Litzy Lara Banuelos, was suffering from hot and cold chills, tremors, increased heart rate, headaches, and difficulty walking prior to the heart attack.

She was later found unconscious in her room as a nurse performed CPR on her for three minutes until paramedics arrived on 3 February.

According to the lawsuit, it took between 30 and 40 minutes before they were able to get a pulse, and she was left in a coma after prolonged oxygen deprivation.

Yesenia Lara Cooper, Willis’ mother, filed a lawsuit against Summit Malibu, and its parent company, Malibu Lighthouse Treatment Centers, in December 2024, accusing them of ‘abuse of a dependent adult, professional negligence, negligence and fraudulent business practices’.

Court papers filed by Cooper’s lawyers argued that ‘as a direct and proximate result of [Summit Malibu’s] neglect, abandonment, recklessness and negligence in failing to provide care and treatment for Willis, she suffered irreversible brain damage and permanent physical and mental incapacity, pain, suffering and emotional distress, among other damages’.

She alleges that while in the rehab facility, Emily was barely eating, showering or getting dressed, and on one occasion, a nurse was unable to take her blood pressure due to dehydration.

Emily Willis’ family say she has been left permanently disabled (Instagram/@emilywillisx3)

The lawsuit also alleges Emily was left alone for ‘excessively long periods of time’.

In May 2024, Emily’s brother Michael wrote on the family’s GoFundMe: “Emily is showing some signs of responsiveness like eye tracking but is still unable to communicate.”

Settlement update

Now, in an update, MyNewsLA.com reports that a tentative settlement has been reached with Summit Malibu.

While no terms have been revealed, the outlet said ‘Summit Malibu’s attorneys filed court papers on 24 February with Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Mark A. Young notifying him of a ‘conditional’ accord in the case brought by Yesenia Lara Cooper, along with the expectation a request for dismissal will be filed by 1 September’.

Willis is currently in a vegetative state (Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)

It comes after Summit Malibu’s lawyers claimed in previous court papers that Willis ‘had refused to follow medical recommendations and take her medications’.

They said Willis declined the staff’s recommendation that she be transported to a hospital prior to suffering the heart attack, claiming: “She refused to go to urgent care or the hospital voluntarily, despite being encouraged to do so by [Summit Malibu].”

As far as her current condition goes, James A. Morris, Jr, who is representing Willis and Cooper, told The Mirror US last year that ‘she remains bedridden due to her neurological injuries’.

“She was in the danger zone the moment she walked through the doors,” Morris continued to PornCrush. “She needed very, very intense medical treatment.

“They didn’t diagnose that upon entry, nor did they monitor carefully enough how quickly she was digressing.”

LADbible Group has contacted Summit Malibu and Malibu Lighthouse Treatment Centers for comment.