Oct 28 (Reuters) - The estate of a man who was killed in

2021 after his Tesla crashed and caught fire has asked a federal

judge in San Francisco to sanction the electric vehicle maker

over stalled efforts to settle a wrongful death lawsuit.

Lawyers for the estate of Charles Leach said in a court

filing on Friday night that Tesla violated a court order by

failing to send a company official with settlement authority to

a mediation hearing last month.

The estate's lawyers said they reached a deal to resolve the

wrongful death lawsuit for a confidential amount, but they

learned hours into the September hearing that Tesla's designee,

a products liability lawyer, could not approve a settlement

agreement on his own.

Tesla's actions caused the parties to breach the settlement

agreement, the lawyers said. The estate asked the court to award

$9,600 in legal fees as a sanction against the Elon Musk-owned

carmarker.

Tesla and its attorneys did not immediately respond to

requests for comment, and neither did lawyers for the driver's

estate.

Tesla has denied any wrongdoing, blaming the driver for the

fatal crash. A jury trial in the case is scheduled for July

2025.

The estate's lawsuit said Leach's Tesla Model Y "suddenly"

accelerated, went off the road and slammed into a pillar at an

Ohio gas station. Leach, 72, died from blunt force trauma, burns

and other injuries.

"Tesla was aware that its vehicles - including the Model Y -

have reportedly on hundreds of occasions accelerated suddenly

and without explanation," the lawsuit said.

Tesla has responded that Leach was solely to blame for

"improper and unsafe" operation of his 2021 vehicle. The company

said Leach's model "was state-of-the-art and was not defective

in design or manufacture."

Tesla has faced other lawsuits over crashes blamed on

alleged defects in its electric vehicles. Tesla last year won

the first trial over claims that its Autopilot driver assistant

feature led to a death.

Tesla separately faces U.S. legal and regulatory scrutiny

over its driver assistance systems. In December, Tesla recalled

millions of vehicles to install new safeguards.

The case is Donna Leach v Tesla, U.S. District Court,

Northern District of California, No. 3:23-cv-03378-SI.

For plaintiff: Todd Walburg and Scott Baez of McCune Law

Group

For defendant: Sandra Ezell of Nelson Mullins Riley &

Scarborough

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