The mother of a now incapacitated former adult film actress hasn’t brought forth any new evidence supporting her claims of abuse since initially filing a lawsuit against the Malibu rehabilitation center where her daughter suffered a heart attack in 2024 that left her in a vegetative state, the facility’s lawyers contend in new court papers.
Summit Malibu attorneys filed court papers on Friday with Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Mark A. Young, stating Yesenia Lara Cooper, the mother and guardian of plaintiff Litzy Lara Banuelos, hasn’t provided any more details than she did during a previous hearing to support her claim for elder/dependent abuse and take the case beyond that of one of alleged simple professional negligence.
Banuelos was known in the industry as Emily Willis. She was a Penthouse Pet of the Month in May 2019 and has won multiple Adult Video News awards, including Female Performer of the Year in 2021.
In an earlier ruling, the judge said Cooper did not show Summit Malibu’s staff’s care for the plaintiff’s daughter “rose to the level of recklessness.”
In their new court papers, Summit Malibu lawyers say Banuelos herself is in no way blameless for what occurred.
“It is undisputed that during her stay, Litzy had refused to follow medical recommendations and take her medications,” according to the Summit Malibu attorneys’ pleadings. “She refused to go to urgent care or the hospital voluntarily, despite being encouraged to do so by (Summit Malibu).”
While Cooper’s amended complaint suggests that Summit Malibu “should have forced Litzy to go to urgent care or the hospital over her refusal, however, as more fully discussed below, they had no authority to do so,” according to the rehab facility’s lawyers.
Summit Malibu’s attorneys say there is no evidence of any negligence on the staff’s part regarding Banuelos’ care given that Cooper’s own lawsuit states that her daughter was regularly monitored and seen by the staff.
“When she expressed discomfort, she was prescribed medication,” the Summit Malibu lawyers further contend in their pleadings. They added there is no evidence Banuelos was either left alone for an extended period of time, that appropriate treatment was withheld or that CPR was not properly and promptly administered when she became unconscious.
Nonetheless, Cooper alleges Summit Malibu was lax in her daughter’s care. Willis, now 26, was at the facility for treatment of a ketamine addiction.
“As a direct and proximate result of (Summit Malibu’s) neglect, abandonment, recklessness and negligence in failing to provide care and treatment for Litzy, she suffered irreversible brain damage and permanent physical and mental incapacity, pain, suffering and emotional distress, among other damages,” the suit filed Dec. 27 states.
A hearing on Summit Malibu’s challenge to Cooper’s elder/dependent abuse claim is scheduled Feb. 17, 2026.