Caltrans Files Cross Complaint Against Influencer, Nobu Malibu

SANTA MONICA, CA — Caltrans has filed a cross-complaint against a social influencer and Nobu Malibu seeking compensation for any damages that may be assessed against the state in a consolidated lawsuit filed by relatives of a man killed in an Independence Day 2024 traffic accident in Malibu.

Influencer Summer Wheaton, 33, goes by the Instagram handle "yepitsmesummer." She was arrested in February 2025 in the death of 44-year- old ride-hailing driver Martin Okeke.

The first Santa Monica Superior Court lawsuit by Okeke's relatives was filed in 2024 and targeted Wheaton, Nobu Malibu and other entities, including Wheaton's employer, but did not name the state as a party. Two subsequent lawsuits did name the state, alleging a dangerous condition of public property. Pacific Coast Highway is under the state's jurisdiction.

A judge consolidated the three cases last October.

The Caltrans cross-complaint denies any liability to Okeke's family, but asks for indemnification from Wheaton and the other cross-defendants if the state is found liable and ordered to pay damages.

Wheaton's arrest followed a months-long investigation into the fatal crash on July 4, 2024, which occurred on Pacific Coast Highway, west of Carbon Canyon and about a mile from Nobu Malibu.

Investigators said Wheaton was driving eastbound in her 2019 Mercedes when she crossed the median and collided head-on with a 2020 Cadillac driven by the 44-year-old victim, who died at the scene.

Sheriff's officials said Wheaton surrendered the following Monday at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Malibu/Lost Hills station, where she was booked on charges of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, DUI causing bodily injury and driving with a BAC of 0.08 percent or higher causing bodily injury.

Wheaton had allegedly attended the "Red, White & Bootsy" event at Nobu Malibu. The suit states that although the city had revoked the restaurant's permit to stage the event, the eatery held it anyway and the city did not interfere.

The city maintains Nobu Malibu ignored the permit revocation and that Pacific Coast Highway is under the state's jurisdiction.