The mother of a now-incapacitated former adult film actress is seeking a judge’s approval of a $3 million settlement in a lawsuit filed against the Malibu rehabilitation center where her daughter suddenly stopped breathing in 2024 and was left in a vegetative state because oxygen to her brain was curtailed.
Attorneys for Yesenia Lara Cooper, the mother and guardian of plaintiff Litzy Lara Banuelos, filed court papers Friday with Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Susan Bryant-Deason asking that she give her nod to the accord involving defendant Summit Malibu during a scheduled May 15 hearing. Banuelos was addicted to ketamine and previously had a failed stint in a drug rehabilitation facility, according to her attorneys’ court papers.
After deductions for attorneys’ fees and costs, Banuelos would receive about $1.26 million. A judge must review the proposed settlement because Banuelos is incapacitated.
In a sworn declaration in support of the lawsuit resolution, plaintiff’s attorney James A. Morris Jr. said hard work was involved in reaching the accord.
“Having lived and breathed this case for nearly two years, I can state with confidence that Ms. Banuelos is significantly injured, but that this case was no slam dunk,” Morris said. ` No one knows what exactly happened to Ms. Banuelos or whether defendants could have done anything different to prevent the injuries from happening, given Ms. Banuelos’ fragile state as a ketamine addict when she entered their facility.”
The lack of oxygen to Banuelos’ brain has caused an anoxic brain injury from which she will never recover, according to Morris, who further says that she cannot move her body and is “effectively frozen.” She sometimes opens her eyes, but does not always track movements, and she occasionally grunts, according to Morris.
At one point specialists offered the theory that a latent infection Willis could have possibly gotten while in the adult film industry may have caused her health issues, Morris says.
Banuelos was known in the industry as Emily Willis. She was a Penthouse Pet of the Month in May 2019 and won multiple Adult Video News awards, including Female Performer of the Year in 2021.
In their previous court papers, Summit Malibu lawyers said Banuelos shared blame for what occurred to her health.
“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 contended that Summit Malibu should have forced her daughter to go to urgent care or a hospital despite the young woman’s refusal, the facility had no authority to do so, according to the rehab center’s lawyers.
Summit Malibu’s attorneys also said there was no evidence of any negligence on the staff’s part regarding Banuelos’ care given that Cooper’s own lawsuit states her daughter was regularly monitored and seen by the staff.
Nonetheless, Cooper alleged Summit Malibu was lax in her daughter’s care. Willis, now 27, 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 in December 2024 stated.