Emily Willis’ family has reached a legal settlement after she became mentally incapacitated.
The former porn star was left with brain damage after being found unresponsive at a California rehab two years ago, and now a $3 million settlement has been approved in a civil lawsuit brought forth by her family.
The 27-year-old will receive approximately $1.25 million after attorney’s fees and liens, though her mom Yesenia Cooper will continue to act as her conservator since Willis (real name Litzy Banuelos) is “incapacitated,” according to court documents filed on July 15 and obtained by E! News.
Willis entered Summit Malibu, a rehab facility located near Los Angeles, on Jan. 27, 2024 to seek treatment for an addiction to ketamine, which she had been “ingesting five to six grams per day for a year,” per a complaint initially filed by her mother.
The lawsuit said Willis weighed 100 pounds—which was considered 16 pounds underweight—and was experiencing incontinence as well as night terrors at the time, but was “not referred to a nutritionist or physician” upon her admission into treatment.
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The complaint alleged that rehab workers neglected to respond to Willis’ declining condition in the following days, including when she was documented in facility records with “hot/cold chills, headaches, hand tremors, increased heart rate, night sweats, sensitivity to light and unkempt appearance and hygiene.” Multiple drug screens came back negative.
The 15-time AVN Award winner’s condition worsened until Feb. 4, 2024, when she was found unconscious in her room. Paramedics performed CPR for 30 to 40 minutes before her pulse returned and she was rushed to a local hospital, per the suit.
Though Willis spent several weeks recovering in the ICU, doctors were “never able to determine what, exactly, caused her to stop breathing,” her family’s attorney James A. Morris said in a court declaration filed earlier this year.
According to Morris, Willis now “cannot move her body” and lives with an “anoxic brain injury from which she will never recover.”
“She is effectively frozen,” Morris stated. “She does sometimes open her eyes, but her eyes do not always track movement in the room. She does sometimes grunt.”
In her lawsuit against Malibu Summit, Willis’ mom Cooper accused the facility of “neglect, abandonment, recklessness and negligence in failing to provide care and treatment,” saying that her daughter “suffered irreversible brain damage and permanent physical and mental incapacity, pain, suffering and emotional distress” as a result.
Cooper argued that the rehab center “knew or should have known” Willis was “unable to wholly care for herself and was dependent upon them for her safety and health services” due to her medical history, which she said includes depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.
E! News has reached out to attorneys for Malibu Summit for comment but hasn’t heard back.
In court filings, Malibu Summit denied wrongdoing, arguing that Willis refused staffers’ attempts for her to seek treatment at an urgent care or emergency room outside of the facility when her condition worsened.
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