Eskandarian

Respondent Steven M. Garber & Associates (Garber) brought an action against appellants Alec Eskandarian (A. Eskandarian), Raffle Eskandarian (R. Eskandarian), New Day Communications, Inc. (New Day), Webnet One Enterprises, Inc. (Webnet), and Global Male Pass.Com (Global) for unpaid attorney fees in the amount of $132,038.32. The trial court granted Garber’s motions for terminating sanctions based on appellants’ failure to respond to discovery propounded by Garber. Appellants appeal from the resulting default judgment. We affirm.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Garber filed its action against appellants on January 22, 2004. The complaint alleged causes of action for breach of contract and two common counts. Eventually, on August 4, 2004, appellants filed a first amended answer that raised for the first time the claim that the controversy was subject to binding arbitration. The court struck this defense as an inappropriate amendment because it was not contained in the original answer. In October 2004, the trial court denied appellants’ motion to compel arbitration on the grounds that appellants had taken steps inconsistent with an intent to invoke arbitration and had unreasonably…