The family of former adult entertainment actress Emily Willis is close to reaching a settlement with the rehabilitation center where she was found unconscious and suffering from a heart attack.
The 27-year-old Willis suffered “irreversible brain damage” during the 2024 ordeal at the rehabilitation center in Malibu, leaving her “permanently disabled”.
Willis, real name Litzy Lara Banuelo, checked into Summit Malibu seeking help for anorexia. It’s reported that at the time she weighed just 100 pounds, while her lawyer claimed that she was not seeking help from the center for ketamin use, which she had stopped using prior to entering the facility.
In February 2024, the adult star was found unresponsive in her room, having been experiencing hot and cold chills, tremors, increased heart rate, headaches, and difficulty walking.
It is unknown how long she had been unconscious prior to being discovered, but Willis suffered an anoxic brain injury, leaving her disabled and paralyzed due to oxygen deprivation.
The lawsuit since brought by Willis’ mother, Yesenia Cooper, states that a nurse performed CPR on the 27-year-old for three minutes before paramedics arrived. They were able to get a pulse after 30-40 minutes of working on her.
Cooper’s lawsuit, filed against Summit Malibu and its parent company, Malibu Lighthouse Treatment Centers in December 2024, contended that her daughter’s “irreversible brain damage and permanent physical and mental incapacity, pain, suffering and emotional distress” was caused “as a direct and proximate result of (Summit Malibu’s) neglect, abandonment, recklessness and negligence in failing to provide care and treatment for Willis.”
Reports now state that a tentative settlement has been reached between Willis’ family and Summit Malibu.
“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,” reports MyNewsLA.com.
In previous court papers, Summit Malibu’s lawyers claimed that Willis “had refused to follow medical recommendations and take her medications.”
They further alleged: “She refused to go to urgent care or the hospital voluntarily, despite being encouraged to do so by (Summit Malibu).”
Willis, meanwhile, has been left unable to speak, though she is able to make noises and can “move her body somewhat”.
“She remains bedridden due to her neurological injuries,” her lawyer told The Mirror US last year.
