An Emily Willis settlement worth $3 million was approved by a Santa Monica judge in July 2026, months after the former adult star suffered a brain injury at a Malibu rehab that left her permanently incapacitated at 25.
Willis, whose real name is Litzy Lara Banuelos, is now unable to handle her own affairs, so the payout was signed off on her behalf, as reported by Complex.
Her mother, Yesenia Lara Cooper, stood as a co-plaintiff in the case that ended before it ever reached a jury.
Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Susan Bryant-Deason put her name to the agreement, stepping in because Willis can no longer make legal decisions for herself.
The former performer was found unresponsive in her room at Summit Malibu on Sunday, 4 February 2024, where she had been treated for ketamine addiction.
Inside the Emily Willis settlement
Court filings laid out just how badly the treatment went wrong. Willis had no drugs in her system during the crisis but weighed only 80 pounds, and a nurse performed CPR before paramedics arrived and spent a further 30 to 40 minutes restoring her pulse.
The oxygen loss caused irreversible damage.
The injury she suffered was an anoxic brain injury, the kind caused when the brain is starved of oxygen, and it left her permanently and profoundly incapacitated.
At 25, she went from a working performer to someone who needs help with the basics of daily life.
Willis’s legal team, in court filings, did not soften how they saw the facility’s role in what happened to their client, calling the whole episode “a horrendous breakdown in clinical care” that should never have taken place inside a licensed treatment centre.
Summit Malibu and its parent company, Malibu Lighthouse Treatment Centres, denied any wrongdoing. In their own filings, they argued that Willis had repeatedly refused to accept medical help during her stay but insisted she was monitored throughout the time she spent under their roof.
How the Emily Willis settlement came together
The lawsuit landed in December 2024 and had been booked for trial on Wednesday, 6 May 2026, before the agreement made a courtroom fight pointless.
Willis’s lawyers also trimmed their requested fees from $1.2 million down to $1 million before the judge gave the deal her approval.
Before the medical crisis, Willis had built a big name in the industry. She was crowned Penthouse Pet of the Month in May 2019 and went on to win the Adult Video News Female Performer of the Year award in 2021, two of the bigger honours in the field.
Where the Emily Willis settlement leaves her now
Willis has since been moved out of the facility and into her mother’s home in Utah, where she now receives round-the-clock care.
With the money secured and the trial scrapped, the family’s focus shifts fully to her long-term care, and the payout covers the support she needs for the rest of her life.
